Encouraged by sophisticated weapons and long-range artillery provided by Western nations, Ukrainian troops launched an offensive against Russian forces in the Northeast on Friday, seeking to drive them out of two major cities. War for the city.
After weeks of fierce fighting on the 300-mile-long battlefield, neither side was able to make great progress, with one army capturing a few villages in one day and only losing several in the following. In its latest attempt to retake territory, the Ukrainian military has said it is waging “fierce battles” to retake Russian-held territory around Kharkiv in the northeast and Isiam in the east.
The fierce war came after President Biden announced on Friday that he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky and the leaders of the G7, which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Nations, almost on Sunday. In the states.
Russian President Vladimir V White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the leaders would meet on Monday as Putin prepares to celebrate the anniversary of Victory Day with military parades and speeches commemorating the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.
Following the failure of his initial motivation to overthrow the Ukrainian army and overthrow the government, Mr.
“Although he expects to march on the streets of Kiev, it’s not really going to happen,” she said. Saki said. He called the G7 meeting “an opportunity not only to show how united the West is in confronting President Putin’s aggression and invasion, but also to show that unity requires labor.”
On Friday Ukraine urged the public to prepare for a major offensive in Russia ahead of Victory Day, warning of large crowds and imposing new curfew orders from Ivano-Frankivsk in the west to Zaporizhia in the southeast.
Ukrainian police forces were also placed on high alert ahead of a holiday commemorated in Russia with military parades in Moscow and hundreds of other cities.
Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry, warned that people could risk their lives by gathering in crowded places.
“We all remember what happened at the train station in Gramadorsk,” Denisenko told the Telegram. A devastating missile attack on that eastern city last monthIt killed dozens of people who had gathered on railway platforms and tried to flee the invasion.
“Be vigilant,” Mr. Denisenko said. “This is the most important thing.”
Luhansk regional governor of eastern Ukraine, Sergei Haidoi, has warned that Russian forces are preparing for a “major offensive” against a couple of eastern cities, such as the Chevrolet Donetsk and Bopsana. He attacked what he called the “continuous horror” in the region, where a recent Russian shelling killed two people and destroyed dozens of homes.
The pace of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine has intensified in recent days, with Moscow trying to slow the flow of Western weapons across the country. But as with many aspects of the war, Mr. Uncertainty about Putin’s intentions runs deep.
There is widespread speculation that he may use his upcoming vacation to turn what he calls a “special military operation” into a full-fledged war, which will justify the massive mobilization of Russian troops and set the stage for broad-based action. Border conflict. Kremlin officials have denied such plans. But they also rejected the plan to invade Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials say a military draft in Russia could trigger a backlash among its citizens, many of whom, according to opinion polls, see the war as a further distant conflict. Convoluted and sometimes contradictory stories Provided by state-controlled media.
“Public mobilization in Russia will benefit us,” said Oleksei Arestovych, Mr. Zelensky’s chief adviser on staff said in an interview with Ukrainian television this week. “It will lead to a revolution.”
Some Western researchers, Mr. Putin speculates that Russia may point to the area already occupied by Moscow in eastern Ukraine to reinforce his false claims that Russia is liberating the region from the Nazis.
The Pentagon, for its part, said Mr. Putin’s victory avoided sparking speculation about his plans for the day.
“It’s up to them what they plan to do or not do on Victory Day,” said Pentagon spokesman John F. Kennedy. Kirby, Said Thursday. “I don’t think we have the right feeling.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday adopted a statement in support of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ attempt to broker a diplomatic resolution on the war, raising fears that Russia could intensify its offensive.
The report, launched by Mexico and Norway, is the first action on Ukraine that the Council has unanimously approved since the invasion began. Russia supported the statement, calling the conflict a “war” and the Kremlin’s ban on the word.
Mr. Zelensky on Friday insisted that peace talks could not resume until Russian forces returned to their pre-invasion location. However, he did not offer a negotiated settlement.
“Not all bridges have been destroyed,” he said, speaking at a televised event at a virtual event hosted by Saddam House, a British research firm.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexei Zaitsev said on Friday that talks between Russia and Ukraine were “stagnant”, Russian state media said.
He said NATO countries were prolonging the war by sending billions of dollars in arms to Ukraine. Zaitsev blamed, but those countries said Mr.
“It leads to an extension of hostility, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure and civilian casualties,” he said.
Mr. Zelensky said Russian campaigners had spent years fueling “hatred”, which prompted Russian soldiers to “hunt” civilians, destroy cities and carry out atrocities found in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol. Much of the city, once home to more than 400,000 people, has been razed to the ground, and has become a powerful symbol of the devastation wrought by Russia in Ukraine.
Russia’s determination to destroy the last Ukrainian fighters hiding in bunkers beneath the Azovstel steel plant in Mariupol underscores the “atrocities” that defined the invasion. Zhelensky said.
“It’s terrorism and hatred,” he said.
On Friday, a top Ukrainian official and Russian state media reported that about 50 women, children and the elderly were evacuated in a humanitarian vehicle trapped under the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. The official, Deputy Prime Minister Irina Versuk, said the evacuation was “very slow” because Russian troops had violated the ceasefire agreement.
With the help of the United Nations and the Red Cross, about 500 people have been evacuated from the Azovstale plant, Mariupol and its environs in recent days. Guterres said.
As the fighting drags on, concerns are growing that war could exacerbate the global hunger crisis.
The United Nations said on Friday that there was growing evidence that Russian troops were looting tons of Ukrainian grain and destroying grain storage facilities, adding to the disruption in exports, which has already pushed up global prices and had devastating consequences for poorer countries.
At the same time, the World Food Program, the organization’s anti – hunger organization, called for the reopening of ports in the Odessa region of southern Ukraine so that food produced in the war – torn country could move freely to other parts of the world. Ukraine, a leading grain producer, has about 14 million tons of warehouses for export, but Russia’s blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports has hampered supplies.
“Now, Ukraine’s grain pits are full,” said David Beasley, managing director of the World Food Program, while “44 million people around the world are starving.”
Reported by Don Blefsky, Nick Cumming-Bruce, Rick Gladstone, Jolan Conno-Youngs and Furnace Fassihi.
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