According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s partners are finally delivering the weapons their country has asked for. It would help save the lives of thousands of people, he explains in a video speech Saturday night. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Washington and pledged continued US support, the US State Department said.
Schmyhal was upbeat during his visit. According to Ukraine, very soon it will be victorious in the war with Russia. “We are absolutely sure that Ukraine will win this war and in a very short time,” Shmyhal told CNN.
In all, since the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine two months ago, Ukrainian rescue workers have freed more than 1,200 civilians trapped under the rubble. The announcement was made by Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj in a video message posted to Facebook on Saturday night. In addition, more than 70,000 units of various types of ammunition or explosive devices were rendered harmless, including 2,000 aerial bombs, Monastyrsky said. About 12,000 hectares of land were searched for traps.
In his nightly video message, Zelenskyy also reacted to Russia’s specification of its war objectives. The area where Russia must take care of the rights of Russian speakers “is Russia itself”.
In addition, Zelenskyy called on the citizens of his country to resist the war of Russian aggression. “Everyone has to resist occupation at every opportunity.” People must not cooperate with the Russians. Those living in areas controlled by Russian units must “cause as much trouble as possible” for them.
On Friday, a high-ranking Russian military official said that in the second phase of the war in Ukraine they wanted to take Donbass in the east and south of the country and there was still access to Transnistria, where “oppression of the Russian-speaking population” was also found. Russia uses this argument to justify its war of aggression in Ukraine. Russian troops are stationed in the Transnistria region, which broke away from Moldova.
Zelenskyy also said that in Russia there is no freedom of expression or freedom of choice. Poverty thrives and human life has no value there. Russia’s statements also confirmed what he had already said several times: “That the Russian invasion of Ukraine should only be the beginning and after that they want to conquer other countries”.