KIEV (Reuters) – At least three people have been killed after a Russian missile destroyed an apartment building in the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk, officials said. West.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to take more anti-corruption measures as authorities continue to raid his home ahead of Friday’s EU meeting.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said as she arrived in Kyiv by train on Thursday: “We are here to say that the EU stands firm in Ukraine as it has always done. and to further deepen our support and cooperation,” he tweeted. .
Ukraine considers this meeting important in wanting to join the bloc, and the process is likely to take years.
In his evening video address, Zelensky also expressed another grim view of the battlefield situation as Russian forces continue to make incremental gains in the eastern part of the country as the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Moscow approaches on February 24. made an evaluation.
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In Kramatorsk, at 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) on Wednesday, a Russian Iskander-K tactical missile struck, killing at least three people and wounding 20, police said.
“At least eight apartment buildings were damaged, one of which was completely destroyed,” police said in a Facebook post.
“People may remain under the rubble.”
Kramatorsk is about 55 km (34 mi) northwest of Bakhmut and is currently the main focus of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
“Tough” on the Eastern Front
Determined to advance before Ukraine gets its newly promised Western tanks and armored vehicles, Russia has gained momentum on the battlefield and has suffered from sustained Russian artillery fire for months. Bakhmut announced advances to the north and south.
“The offensive operations of the occupying forces on the eastern front of our country are definitely increasing. The situation is getting tougher,” President Zelensky said in an evening video broadcast.
“The enemy is trying to achieve at least something to show that Russia has a chance on the anniversary of the invasion,” he added.
Bakhmut and 10 surrounding towns and villages were under attack by Russian forces, the Ukrainian military said late Wednesday.
Avdiivka, another major target for Russian forces, the nearby town of Maryinka, and several nearby settlements were also hit, the military added.
Russian forces are pushing to encircle Bakhmut from both the north and south, and are seeking to use their superior forces to cut off supplies to Bakhmut and drive the Ukrainians out, says Yevgen, a Ukrainian military analyst. Mr Dikiy said.
“This is the most difficult scenario for us,” Dikiy told Espreso TV.
“The enemy can use the only resource they have left: men,” he said, describing the landscape northeast of Bahmut “literally covered in corpses.”
Ukraine and its Western allies say Moscow has suffered huge losses around Bakhmut and sent in ill-equipped troops, including thousands of prisoners conscripted as mercenaries.
A former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, who fled to Norway in January, told Reuters he wanted to apologize for the fighting in Ukraine and spoke out to bring the perpetrators of the atrocities to justice.
“First of all, I want to apologize again and again,” said Andrei Medvedev, 26.
rocket
Ukraine has secured a pledge of weapons from the West that will provide new capabilities – the latest expected this week to include rockets from the US that will nearly double the range of Ukrainian forces. .
“We are focused on providing Ukraine with the capabilities it needs to be effective in the counteroffensive expected next spring,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a visit to the Philippines on Thursday. said.
The new weapon will bring all of Russia’s supply lines in eastern Ukraine and parts of Crimea within range of Ukrainian forces.
Moscow says such rockets would escalate the conflict, but not change its course.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Russian state television on Thursday: “The wider the range of weapons supplied to the Kyiv regime, the more we will have to push them back from the territories that are part of our country.” ‘ said. Moscow claims to have annexed four of her provinces in Ukraine last year, as well as Crimea, which it occupied in 2014.
Russian forces are investigating weaknesses in Ukrainian defenses on the western edge of the Luhansk region, Russian Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian television on Thursday.
“The volume of artillery fire has increased, the number of attacks in the direction of Svatove Kreminna has increased … they are piling up bodies on our positions,” Gaidai said.
Reuters was unable to confirm the battlefield report.
Last February, President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in a “special military operation” to “disarm” the neighboring country. He now positions the campaign as a fight to defend Russia against aggressive Western powers. Ukraine and the West call it an illegal war to expand Russian territory.
Reported by Reuters Bureau Written by Himani Sarkar and Gareth Jones Edited by Robert Barthel and Peter Graff
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