Ukraine comes for her counter-offensive against invading Russian troops according to their own statements.
The armed forces advanced south forward, said Deputy Secretary of Defense Hanna Malyar on Friday on Ukrainian television. The offensive is going as planned there.
At the east they would have russian attacks on cities kupyansk It is Lyman repelled.
➤ Read more: Wagner boss Prigozhin: Moscow is spreading lies about the situation at the front
Not very fast offensive
Ukrainian troops are advancing gradually and steadily, even if they are hampered by Russian minefields. “You shouldn’t expect the offensive to be something very fast,” he said. maljar. The main blow is yet to come. Some reserve units would not be deployed until later.
In the south, focus in the direction Melitopol It is Berdyansk. However, the main cities mentioned by Maljar are still a long way from the Russian-occupied interior front in southern Ukraine. Despite the proclaimed progress, the Ukrainian military apparently did not take more cities.
➤ Read more: Counteroffensive: Zelensky spots progress
In any case, there is no corresponding information in Maljar’s report. The officer was always one of the first to report the receipts for the eight settlements recaptured so far.
According to Ukraine, it has recaptured eight villages in the south in the past two weeks. The advances in heavily fortified and mined areas under Russian control, while small, are the biggest since November. The leadership in Kiev has been preparing the counteroffensive for months, which they hope will mark a turning point in the war.
However, it has imposed a news blackout and independent reporting is sparse. But they say there were heavy casualties on both sides. According to experts, the majority of Ukrainian troops have yet to be deployed, some of which have been trained and equipped by the West.
➤ Read more: What Ukraine intends to do with its counter-offensive
Zelensky demands the evacuation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his accusations of terrorism against Moscow and called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
“Complete evacuation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is necessary,” he said in his daily video message late on Thursday.
The world must increase pressure on Moscow to avoid a nuclear catastrophe. Radioactivity knows no neutrality, he told countries that have yet to take a stand in the conflict.
Zelensky repeated the accusation that Moscow was planning an attack on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which it then cynically “hoped to hide under this or that catastrophe”. He informed representatives of major Western industrialized nations (G7) and industrialized and emerging countries (G20) as well as international organizations about the danger.
Zelensky has not provided concrete evidence for his accusations against Moscow. Instead, he referred to the destruction of the Kachowka Dam.
After it was damaged, the Kakhovka reservoir was depleted and large parts of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine were flooded. Kiev and the West hold Moscow responsible for this. Russia denies blowing the dam.
UN report: Russia is responsible for the deaths of 136 children
The United Nations accuses Russia of serious crimes against children. This emerges from an internal UN report.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres blamed Russia for the deaths of 136 children last year and expressed “shocked”. The Russian army has been included on a UN list of organizations that commit serious crimes against children in armed conflict. At the same time, the UN also accused Ukraine of being responsible for the deaths of children.
According to the UN, 477 children were demonstrably killed in Ukraine last year. 136 deaths are attributed to Russian forces and allies, 80 to Ukrainian troops. Neither party to the conflict can be blamed for the remaining victims with certainty. Children were mostly killed by air strikes, he said.
Russian forces carry out such attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns. The UN emphasized that there is a high “undeclared number” due to strict guidelines for verifying such cases.
Russia extends custody to American journalists
Meanwhile, Russia’s judiciary confirmed the extended detention of American reporter Evan Gershkovich, who had been arrested for alleged espionage. A court in Moscow on Thursday dismissed a complaint by Gershkovich’s lawyers, the Interfax news agency reported.
The 31-year-old works for the American newspaper “Wall Street Journal”. The reporter was arrested by the FSB secret service in March in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg. He is accused of collecting classified information about Russia’s military-industrial complex for US agencies.