PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron has communicated to Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy his “desire to work actively to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity during his second term in office,” in coordination with allies, according to the president’s Elysee Palace .
Macron assured Zelenskyy in their hour-long conversation on Saturday that “military materiel” and humanitarian aid would continue to flow to Ukraine, the Elysee said.
France has so far sent 615 tons of equipment and supplies, including generators for hospitals, ambulances and food. France has been timid about its contribution to defensive weapons, but Macron recently mentioned Milan anti-tank missiles and a shipment of truck-mounted Caesar guns as “follow-up equipment.”
“This support will continue to grow,” the French president told Zelenskyy, according to Elysee.
Macron was re-elected President of France six days ago. During his first term, Macron held numerous talks with both Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin since the Russian invasion on February 24.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Ukrainian forces are battling Russia’s grueling advance in Donbass
— The wives of the Mariupol defenders are appealing for the evacuation of the soldiers from the last base
— Despite dangers, the Ukrainians are returning across the front line towards houses
— Ukrainian women learn how to clear landmines after fleeing Kosovo
Follow all AP reports on Russia’s war against Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LVIV, Ukraine — Russia’s foreign minister says Moscow has evacuated over 1 million people from Ukraine since the war began.
Sergei Lavrov’s comments in an interview with China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency on Saturday come as Ukraine has accused Moscow of forcibly sending Ukrainians out of the country. Lavrov said that number included more than 300 Chinese civilians.
Lavrov offered no evidence to support his claim in the interview.
Lavrov also said that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine continued “almost every day”. However, he warned that “progress has not been easy.”
Lavrov partly blamed “the bellicose rhetoric and seditious actions of Western supporters of the Kiev regime” for disrupting the talks. However, Russian state television had guests every night who suggested that Moscow should use nuclear weapons in the conflict.
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LVIV, Ukraine – The British military believes Russian forces in Ukraine are likely suffering from “low morale”.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense made that assessment in a tweet on Saturday as part of a daily report on Russia’s war on Kyiv.
It said that Russia “still faces significant challenges” in combat. The British military believes that Russian forces “have been forced to merge and redeploy exhausted and disparate units from the failed pushes in north-eastern Ukraine”.
She did not provide any information on how she arrived at this assessment. However, analysts believe Russian forces that failed to take Kyiv earlier in the war were redeployed without the time needed for proper rearmament and remanning.
The British believe Russia is hoping to reorganize its effort and shorten supply lines.
The ministry added: “A lack of unit-level capabilities and patchy air support have left Russia unable to fully utilize its combat mass, despite local improvements.”
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WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. defense official said Friday the Russian offensive is proceeding much more slowly than planned, partly due to the strength of Ukrainian resistance.
“We also assess that due to this slow and uneven progress, again without perfect knowledge of all aspects of the Russian plan, we believe and assess that they are behind schedule with what they were trying to achieve in the Donbas,” the official said said and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. military assessment.
He said the US believes the Russians are “at least a few days behind where they wanted to be” as they attempt to encircle Ukrainian troops to the east.
As troops attempt to advance north from Mariupol to advance against Ukrainian forces from the south, their advances are “slow and uneven and in any case not decisive,” the official said.
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KIEV, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy Donbass and everyone who lives there.
“The constant brutal bombing, the constant Russian attacks on infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to clean this territory of all people. Therefore, defending our country, defending our people, is literally a fight for your life,” he said late Friday in his late-night video address to the nation.
He said the cities of Donbass would only survive if Ukraine survived. “If the Russian invaders can even partially realize their plans, then they will have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbass into stones. Just like they did at Mariupol.”
Zelenskyy said Mariupol, once one of the most developed cities in the region, is now a “Russian concentration camp amidst the ruins”.
In Kharkiv, a major northern city, the situation is “brutal,” but Ukrainian troops and intelligence agents “had important tactical successes,” he said, without elaborating.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 20% of the city’s residential buildings were so badly damaged that it will be impossible to restore them.
Zelenskyi said rescuers were still walking through the rubble in Kyiv after Thursday’s rocket attacks. He expressed his condolences to the family of Vira Hyrych who was killed in the bombing. He said she was the 23rd journalist killed in the war.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appears to have dismissed the need for the United Nations to help secure humanitarian corridors out of Ukraine’s besieged cities, a day after the UN chief announced the war Haunted Kyiv had toured a hard line target.
When an interviewer from Saudi television channel Al-Arabiya tried to ask Lavrov about UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ proposals for humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians, Lavrov cut him off.
“There is no need. I know, I know,” Lavrov said, irritated. “There is no need for anyone to provide assistance to open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem … humanitarian corridors are ignored by Ukrainian ultranationals,” said he.
“We appreciate the Secretary-General’s helpful interest,” he added. “(We have) explained … what is the mechanism for them to oversee how the humanitarian corridors are announced.”
During the hour-long interview, Lavrov also accused the West of sabotaging Russia’s peace talks with Ukraine. He claimed that delicate negotiations in Istanbul last month over issues of Russian territorial claims and security guarantees were progressing until Ukrainian diplomats backed down at the behest of the West.
“We’re stuck because they want to play games all the time,” Lavrov said. “Because of the instructions they’re getting from Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to speed up the negotiations.”
Asked about the risks of war spilling over into neighboring Moldova after a series of explosions rocked a breakaway border region inside the country, Lavrov struck a threatening tone.
“Moldova should worry about its own future,” he said. “Because they are being drawn into NATO.”