The Ukrainian president says his military is “torturing” Russian forces and that their success in holding off the invading troops is “historically significant”.
Ukraine struck a symbolic blow to Russia by sinking its missile cruiser Moscow on Thursday, a victory that led to retaliatory strikes on Kyiv.
And while Kharkiv and the eastern parts of the country are under renewed bombing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that when it comes to “restoring peace … our armed forces are doing it brilliantly.”
“The success of our military on the battlefield is really significant,” he said in a presidential address.
“Historically significant. But it is still not enough to clear our land of the occupiers. We will beat them more.”
Other events: • Germany promises 1 billion euros in military support for Ukraine • The Prime Minister of Ukraine will attend the World Bank and IMF meetings in Washington next week, US media reported • Russia warns the West of “unpredictable consequences” • Many 900 civilians killed around the Kyiv region are “just executed,” said the police chief
Image: Moscow in Sevastopol, in the occupied Crimea, on April 7. Photo: Maxar Technologies via AP
Ukraine says that in the Kiev region were found 900 bodies – live updates
Russia “will not be accepted anywhere anymore”
Mr Zelenski said his armed forces were “repelling attacks by the occupiers” and “carrying out counterattacks”.
He added: “They have already tortured – in the true sense of the word – Russian conventional aviation so much that they are forced to use strategic long-range aircraft.”
And he claims that Russian troops in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions “are looking for anyone who has ever been associated with the Ukrainian army or government agencies.”
“The occupiers believe that this will somehow make it easier for them to control the territory. But they are wrong. “They are deluding themselves,” he said.
“The problem of the occupiers is not that they are not accepted by some activists, veterans or journalists. Russia’s problem is that the entire Ukrainian people do not accept it and will never accept it again. Russia lost Ukraine forever.
“It actually lost the whole world. It won’t be accepted anywhere anymore.”
Image: Anton Kuprin, captain of the flagship “Moscow”, sunk in the Black Sea
Moscow was hit by two Ukrainian anti-ship missiles
Following the sinking of a Russian warship in the Black Sea near Odessa, Moscow has said it will step up attacks on Kyiv in response to alleged Ukrainian military “sabotage” on its territory.
Ukraine has said it hit the ship with missiles fired from the shore, but Russia says Moscow fell while being towed to a port in stormy seas after an ammunition explosion caused a fire.
The United States has said it believes the ship was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry, said in a statement in the Telegram news release that the ship’s captain, Anton Kuprin, had died in an “explosion and fire on board”.
Explosions were heard in Kyiv and other cities after the ship sank. Early Friday, Russia said it had struck a factory in the capital that makes and repairs anti-ship missiles.
Russia “forms operations” before pressure from Donbass
Apart from Kyiv, explosions were heard on Friday in the southern city of Kherson, the eastern city of Kharkiv and the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.
The Ukrainian capital is gradually showing some signs of pre-war life after Russian troops failed to capture the city and withdrew to focus on a concentrated attack in eastern Ukraine.
But casualties in the Kyiv region are increasing.
The district police chief said the bodies of more than 900 civilians had been found after Russia’s withdrawal – more than 350 in Bucha.
Data show that 95% of them were fatally shot, said Andriy Nebitov.
“People were just executed on the streets,” he said.
Evacuation efforts continue across the country, with a total of 2,864 on Friday fleeing conflict zones, including 363 from the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukraine said.
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1:25 Drive through war-torn Mariupol
In Kharkov, however, seven people were killed and 34 others were injured in a shelling of a residential area, the region’s governor said.
In the southern town of Kakhovka, two civilians died from shrapnel wounds after a rocket was shot down and five were injured, local authorities said.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin continues to organize forces for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Additional equipment has arrived in northern Donbass and western Russia, according to a senior US defense official.
Image: A torn flag in front of a destroyed residential building in Mariupol
The official said Russia was “planning operations” but that the new offensive had not yet begun.
Further south, the besieged city of Mariupol continues to fight between defenders and Russian forces.
Russia’s navy has also moved further south since the sinking of Moscow, the US official added.
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