Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned this Friday that the situation at the front in the Donetsk region, in the Bakhmut and Vougledar region, remains “extremely serious”, with “intense” fighting still taking place.
“The occupiers are not only attacking our positions, but are deliberately and methodically destroying the towns and villages that surround them”emphasized the Ukrainian head of state in his usual daily speech to the nation.
According to Zelensky, the Russian military has “no shortage of means of destruction”, be it artillery, aviation or missiles.
And that can only be stopped by forcehe warned and once again praised the heroism of his soldiers fighting in the region”.
In the mining town of Vougledar, which had a population of 15,000 before the Russian invasion and is located 150 kilometers from Bakhmout, the “cruel” fighting continued.
According to an official of the pro-Russian authorities in the eastern region of Donetsk, Russian troops were “establishing themselves in the southeast and east of the city”.
Ukrainian army spokesman for the eastern zone, Serguiy Cherevaty, confirmed “fierce fighting” while assuring the Russians were being repulsed.
Ukraine said this week that Russian forces have stepped up their attacks in the east, while the Institute of War Studies underlined that Russia is trying to “disperse” Ukrainian troops to “create the conditions for a decisive offensive operation”.
Russian soldiers and mercenaries from the Wagner paramilitary group recently took Soledar, north of Bakhmout, a first success in many months after a series of failures for the Kremlin.
As “intense” fighting continued in eastern Ukraine on Friday, Zelensky and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, addressed International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The Ukrainian ruler, on the day that marked the International Day of the Victims of the Genocide against the Jews committed by the Nazis, stressed that “indifference and hatred” continued to kill, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24. 2022.
Vladimir Putin underlined in a statement that “forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies”.
“Proof of this are crimes against civilians, ethnic cleansing (and) punitive actions organized by neo-Nazis in Ukraine”he remarked, repeating a rhetoric he was accustomed to defending to justify the Russian military offensive in the neighboring country.
From the point of view of the Western alliance in support of Ukraine, Zelensky this Friday welcomed Poland’s decision to provide an additional 60 tanks, half of which will be a modernized version of the Soviet T-72, after the 14 German-made Leopard 2 already promised .
At the same time, the Belgian government has committed to providing new funding to Ukraine, in particular for the supply of missiles, machine guns, ammunition and armored vehicles.
The Ukrainian president has called for the delivery of fighter jets and long-range missiles, weapons that the West has so far refused to provide.
On the other hand, the European Union has decided to extend by six months the sanctions imposed on Russia when Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and is preparing new measures.
Source: DN
