Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured on Saturday that his army, which now controls the strategic city of Lyman, will “over the coming week” take over other cities in the Donetsk region, which Russia annexed on Friday.
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“During the week, other Ukrainian flags were flying over Donbass,” where Donetsk region is located, Zelenskyy said in his daily address. “There will be even more in the coming week.”
The loss of Lyman, a strategic rail hub in the region, is a major setback for Moscow, which on Friday announced it would annex Donetsk and three other Ukrainian regions to Russia.
“They have already started attacking each other: they are looking for culprits, blaming generals for failure…” Zelenskyy said of Russian officials. “This is the first wake-up call that should be heard at all levels of the Russian government.”
Then he said of Russian President Vladimir Putin: “Until you all solve the problem of who started it all, who started this senseless war against Ukraine, you will be killed one by one and become scapegoats for not doing this admitting this war is a historic mistake for Russia”.