– Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday Russian forces had “completely destroyed” the industrial Donbass region and accused Moscow of conducting senseless bombing as it intensified its offensive.
Zelenskyy also accused Russian forces of trying to kill as many Ukrainians and cause as much damage as possible, repeating his charge that Russia was committing genocide.
Zelenskyy said that while Ukrainian forces continue to liberate the Kharkiv region east of Kyiv, Russia is trying to put even more pressure on the Donbass, located in the south-eastern part of Ukraine.
“Hell is there – and that’s no exaggeration,” he said in a late-night video address, adding that 12 people were killed in Thursday’s “brutal and utterly senseless bombing” of Severodonetsk.
“(There are) constant strikes in the Odessa region, in the cities of central Ukraine. Donbass is completely destroyed,” he said.
“This is a deliberate and criminal attempt to kill as many Ukrainians as possible, to destroy as many houses, social institutions and businesses as possible.”
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(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Ronald Popeski; Editing by Chris Reese and Daniel Wallis)