Weapons supplied by the West are starting to have an impact on the war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukrainian fighters are carrying out “tangible strikes” on Russian logistics targets, the president revealed in his overnight video address, adding that the strikes are affecting Moscow’s offensive potential.
He said: “The Western artillery – the weapons that we received from our partners – began to work very powerfully.
“Its accuracy is exactly what it needs to be. Our defenders inflict very tangible blows on warehouses and other points that are important for the logistics of the occupiers, which significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army.
“The occupiers’ losses will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of resupplying them.”
Key developments:
• Ukrainian flag flies again over Snake Island • Western artillery working ‘very powerfully’, says President Zelensky • Representatives of G20 countries, including Russia, gather in Bali • Heavy shelling on frontline in Donetsk, but no progress from both sides, says UK MoD• Ukraine considers ‘treason’ to give up territory ‘not an option’, says Kyiv mayor
It comes after Sky News reported how Ukrainian military social media was increasingly reporting the use of the HIMAR system, a US-made and supplied salvo-fire system that analysts say was used over the weekend to target Russian forces.
Kyiv has repeatedly asked the West to send more weapons to repel the Russian invasion.
Mr Zelensky said his forces were advancing in several tactical directions – particularly in the south, in the Kherson region, in the Zaporizhia region – and that the Ukrainians “will not surrender our land”.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian flag was raised on Snake Island in the Black Sea after the Defense Forces freed it from Russian troops.
The blue and yellow colors are flashing once more over the strategic island, which has been in the spotlight many times during the war – not least when a Russian warship was told to “fuck off” when it demanded the surrender of Ukrainian troops -early in the conflict.
In reference to this episode (now a figure on Ukrainian stamps), the flag had a message to the Russian warship written on it that the island was Ukrainian and signed by the head of Odesa Oblast Maxim Marchenko.
Image: Photo: Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
Read more: Hit, hit, hit, destroy: Russia’s horror tactics in Donbass What will happen in Donbass after Lugansk falls to Russia?
The UK Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that heavy shelling continued on the front line in Donetsk, but that neither side had advanced.
The intelligence update said Russian forces involved in last week’s gains were believed to be “recovering.”
It comes as G20 foreign ministers gather on the Indonesian island of Bali for talks that will be dominated by the conflict in Ukraine, despite an agenda focused on global cooperation and food and energy security.
It is believed to be the first time Russia’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, has met many of the G20 leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
The G20 includes Western nations that have accused Moscow of war crimes in Ukraine and countries such as China, India and South Africa that either support Russia or abstained in the UN vote, calling for action to counter Russian aggression.
Many of its members are opposed to sanctions imposed by the West.
The German foreign minister said the G7 countries would coordinate their response to Lavrov in Bali.
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