04/30/2022 06:25 (act 04/30/2022 06:30)
Declaration caused commotion ©APA/AFP
The Russian army continued its offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine with steady intensity, targeting the city of Kharkiv in particular. Violent explosions were heard there on Saturday night. Despite continued attacks on the country’s second-largest city, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of “tactical successes” by government troops in the region. “The situation in the Kharkiv region is difficult,” he said.
“But our military and our secret service have achieved important tactical successes,” Zelenskyy said in a televised speech. According to the Ukrainian military, they recaptured the “strategically important” village of Ruska Losowa near Kharkiv. According to the Defense Ministry in Kiev, Ukrainian soldiers have brought more than 600 residents to safety.
Zelenskyy accused the Russian army of wanting to “destroy all life” during its offensive in Donbass. The constant attacks on infrastructure and residential areas showed “that Russia wants to make this area uninhabitable”.
Russian troops have already captured several villages in the Donbass region. But the Ukrainian military also reported minor successes. A senior NATO official said Russia had made “slight” and “uneven” progress in its attempt to encircle enemy positions as Ukrainian forces counterattacked.
A senior US Department of Defense official said Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine was “overdue”. The Russian military is “far from establishing a connection between the troops that marched through the Kharkiv region of northern Donbass and the troops in the south of the country”. But it can be assumed “that they will continue to create the conditions for a sustained, bigger and longer offensive,” the Pentagon representative added.
Washington is the main supporter of the Ukrainian military. The US supplied Ukraine with heavy weapons on a large scale. In addition, the training of Ukrainian soldiers by the US military in Germany has already begun.
The training includes howitzers and radar systems that are being made available to Kiev as part of military aid to defend against Russia, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Friday in Washington. The training takes place in coordination with Germany. Kirby spoke about the war in an unusually emotional way and accused Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin of acting “ruthlessly”. The Pentagon spokesman testified to a high degree of “cruelty and depravity”.
Meanwhile, French and German foreign ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian and Annalena Baerbock announced that they would deepen their support for Moldova. In a joint phone call, the two ministers spoke about the situation in the neighboring country of Ukraine and expressed their “common determination” to support the former Soviet republic “in view of the dangers of its destabilization”, said the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Exteriors of France, Anne-Claire Legendre. , on Friday.
The pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria has been rocked by several explosions this week. The explosions raised fears that the war in Ukraine would spill over into Moldova. Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu was suspicious of an attempt to heighten tensions in the region.
Transnistria seceded from Moldova in 1990 when the Soviet Union collapsed. Internationally, the area is not recognized as independent. The Russian army has a military base and a large ammunition depot in the region. The Chisinau government has long demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region.