Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday.
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
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Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday.
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that counter-offensives and defensive measures against Russian forces were underway, assuring that his commanders-in-chief had a “positive attitude” as their troops were fighting fierce battles on the front lines.
The Ukrainian leader, at a news conference in Kyiv alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responded to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remark the day before that Ukraine’s counter-offensive had begun – and that Ukrainian forces had suffered “significant casualties”.
Zelenskyy said that “counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine. I’m not going to talk about what stage or phase they are in.”
“I’m in contact with our commanders of different directions every day,” he added, naming five of Ukraine’s top military leaders. “All are positive. Pass that on to Putin.”
Trudeau, the first foreign leader to visit Ukraine since devastating floods after a dam on the Dnieper burst, offered financial, military and moral support. He pledged CA$500 million (US$375 million) in new military aid, in addition to more than CA$8 billion (US$6 billion) already provided by Canada since the war began in February 2022, and canceled CA$10 million ($7.5 million) to ) for flood relief humanitarian assistance.
Trudeau said the dam’s collapse was “a direct result of the Russian war,” but didn’t blame Moscow directly.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Saturday that “heavy fighting” was ongoing, with 34 clashes compared to the previous day in the country’s industrial east. No details were given, but it was said that Russian forces “defended themselves” and launched air and artillery strikes in Ukraine’s southern Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
Top Ukrainian authorities have not announced that a full-scale counteroffensive is underway, although some Western analysts have pointed to fierce fighting and the deployment of reserve troops. Recent Western investments in Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of military equipment – some of it high-tech and high-value – have raised expectations about when and with what effect these would be used against entrenched Russian lines.
For months, Ukrainian commanders in the eastern city of Bakhmut — largely destroyed in a months-long struggle that was one of the bloodiest battles of the war — have used the language of counteroffensive and defensive operations to describe activities there.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Friday that the epicenter of the fighting was in the east, particularly in the Donetsk region, citing “heavy fighting” in Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka.
Valerii Shershen, a spokesman for Ukraine’s forces in Zaporizhia, told Radio Liberty that they were looking for weaknesses in Russia’s defenses in that western region.
The operator of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest occupied by Russian forces, announced the cold shutdown on Thursday, with the last of its five out of six reactors already in cold shutdown condition. This is a process where all the control rods are inserted into the reactor core to stop the fission reaction and the generation of heat and pressure.
Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear agency, said in a statement late Friday that there was “no direct threat” to the Zaporizhia power plant due to the rupture of the Kakhovka dam further down the Dnieper River, which has forced thousands to flee floods a reservoir, which was used to cool the plant, has fallen sharply.
In Zaporizhia, too, the water levels in the Kakhovka reservoir above the dam, which feeds Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, remained stable on Saturday, Ukraine’s Atomic Energy Agency said. A day earlier, Energoatom said the last of its six reactors had been placed on cold shutdown, a process that involves inserting all control rods into the reactor core to stop the fission reaction and the generation of heat and pressure.
The other five were already in cold shutdown mode.
Energoatom said it shut down the last reactor because of lower water levels and shelling near the site that damaged overhead wires connecting the power plant to Ukraine’s power system. The Zaporizhia plant has been occupied by Russian forces since the beginning of the war but is run by Ukrainian personnel.
The site’s power plants have not been operational since September last year. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Ukraine in the coming days.
Also on Saturday morning, Ukrainian authorities reported that at least four civilians had died across the country as Russian forces launched Iranian-made Shahed drones and missiles, as well as artillery and mortar attacks.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that an overnight attack on the Black Sea port of Odessa killed three and wounded more than two dozen. A spokeswoman for the South Ukraine Task Force, Natalia Humeniuk, said two children and a pregnant woman were among the injured.
In northeastern Ukraine, a 29-year-old man was killed when more than 10 drones targeted the Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on Saturday. He added that at least three other civilians were injured.
In the more western Poltava region, there was damage to a military airfield damaged overnight in a Russian drone and missile attack, local governor Dmytro Lunin reported. Lunin said no one was hurt. As of Saturday morning, there was no further comment from the Ukrainian army or officials on the extent of the damage.
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 20 of 35 Shahed drones and two of eight missiles “of different types” launched by Russian forces during the night.
The fighting and civilian casualties drew renewed attention as authorities in southern Ukraine said water levels had dropped in a vast area below the ruptured dam.
Almost a third of the natural reserves in the Kherson region could be destroyed by floods after the Kakhovka dam collapsed, Ukraine’s environment minister warned on Saturday.
In a Facebook post, Ruslan Strilets said the dam collapse had completely inundated a national park, drained rivers and lakes in other protected areas and could cause groundwater to rise in parts of the Moscow-held Dnieper Delta, threatening the danger bring further flooding with it .
In the city of Kherson, whose outskirts were among the flood-hit areas, the average overnight water level fell 31 centimeters (12 inches) but remained over 4.5 meters (15 feet) higher than usual, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on Saturday.
Prokudin warned that meteorologists were predicting heavy rains in the area over the weekend, which would complicate rescue efforts.
The UN humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, said in an interview with the Associated Press on Friday that an “extraordinary” 700,000 people needed drinking water.
In other developments:
On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he wanted to continue speaking to Putin – whose order for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been criticized by many Western leaders – and plan to do so again “soon”. Scholz has spoken to Putin on the phone several times since the invasion.
The basis for a “fair peace” between Russia and Ukraine is the withdrawal of Russian troops, said the Chancellor. “It has to be understood,” he said.
The UK government said it would provide £16 million ($20 million) in humanitarian aid to those affected by the floods. Most of the money is channeled through international organizations such as the Red Cross and the United Nations, while Britain sends boats, municipal water filters, water pumps and waders to Ukraine.
The UK has already given Ukraine £1.5 billion in economic and humanitarian aid since the start of the war, the government said, and has pledged £4.6 billion in military aid.