Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “Ukraine will definitely win” during a working trip to the southern city of Nikolaev as relentless fighting continues in the eastern part of the country.
The president handed out medals and posed for a selfie with the servicemen in what looked like an underground shelter, according to a video posted on his official Telegram account.
“Our brave men. “Each of them is working flawlessly,” he said. “We will definitely endure!” We will definitely win. ”
Russian forces reached the outskirts of Nikolaev in early March, but were then pushed back to the eastern and southern parts of the region, where fierce fighting continues.
“The president inspected the building of the Nikolaev regional state administration, which was destroyed as a result of a missile strike by Russian forces,” Zelensky’s cabinet said.
A Russian rocket exploded through a building in late March, killing 37 people.
Ukraine has made slow progress in liberating Kherson, one of Ukraine’s most strategically important Black Sea cities, less than 70 miles from Nikolaev.
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On Saturday morning, Ukrainian media reported that a car bombing in Kherson had wounded the head of the prison, which appeared to be an attack by Ukrainian guerrillas operating in occupied Russian territory.
There is an intensification of the Ukrainian guerrilla war, especially in the southern part of the country around Kherson.
During his evening national address on Friday, Zelenski announced that the famous medic nicknamed “Taira” Yulia Paevska, whose footage had been smuggled out of the besieged city of Mariupol by an Associated Press team, had been released by Russian forces three months after was taken. prisoner there.
“I am grateful to everyone who worked for this result. Tyra is already home. We will continue to work to free everyone, “he said.
Paevska shared the videos of two journalists from the Associated Press, who were the last international reporters in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. One of the two journalists managed to escape by hiding the videos in a tampon on March 15. Paievska was taken hostage the next day.
In its latest intelligence briefing, the British Ministry of Defense said Russia had probably resumed its offensive in eastern Ukraine, with the intention of penetrating deeper into the Donetsk region and wrapping its pocket around the hostile city of Severodonetsk in the north.
Russia seeks to completely take over Severodonetsk, a key city in its efforts to gain complete control of the eastern Luhansk region.
More than 500 civilians, including 40 children, are estimated to have been trapped at the city’s Nitrogen factory. Weeks of Russia’s relentless bombing of Severodonetsk, including its industrial zone, have left much of the city in ruins.
The shelling of the Azot plant reflects the previous bloody siege of the Azovstal steel plant in the southern port of Mariupol, where hundreds of fighters and civilians have taken refuge from Russian shelling.
Britain also warned on Saturday that Russia would likely want to justify making a smaller distinction between civilian and Ukrainian military targets in the area if civilians in Severodonetsk do not accept Russia’s offer to evacuate through existing corridors. Moscow has previously accused Ukraine of violating plans to open a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the area.
The evacuation was planned to bring civilians from the Nitrogen plant in Svatove, a town north of Severodonetsk controlled by pro-Russian forces.
During the night, Russian shelling also damaged a municipal building and caused a fire in an apartment building in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, the district governor said.
Peace talks between the two countries have largely stalled as fighting has turned into a crushing war of attrition, with both sides saying a return to negotiations could be difficult.
On Saturday, the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team, David Arahamia, said talks with Russia could resume in late August after Kyiv conducted a “series of counter-offensive operations”.
Commenting on Arahamiya’s statements, Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former president, wrote on his Telegram page that by August “the question will be whether we will have anyone to talk to,” in the latest series of statements. Russian officials have questioned Ukraine’s statehood.
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