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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a rare visit outside the capital, Kyiv, where he went to military outposts on the front in the Kharkiv region.
“I want to thank each and every one of you for your service. You are risking your lives for all of us and our country,” Zelensky told troops in the city.
The city in northeastern Ukraine has seen some of the worst fighting since Russia launched its attack on Ukraine on February 24.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its missiles destroyed a large arsenal of the Ukrainian army in Zelensky’s hometown, the official TASS news agency reported.
In its statement, the ministry added that anti-aircraft defense systems had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter plane in Dnipro.
Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that more than 300 “nationalists” [جنود أوكرانيون] They were killed in the last twenty-four hours.
He also claimed that a number of other Ukrainian military targets were hit in the attack, noting that as a result of Russian air strikes, “up to 50 units of military and special equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were destroyed.”
The Ukrainian president had expected what he described as “good news” about acquiring heavy weapons from the West next week.
picture released, AFP
The situation on the front line in Donbass and parts of the Kharkiv region is indescribably difficult, says the Ukrainian president
In his usual nightly address on Saturday night, he said that Ukraine, which has been boosting arms supplies, is “close to the point where the Russians may outnumber the Russians technologically and in terms of their striking capacity.”
“Of course, much depends on our partners and their willingness to provide Ukraine with everything necessary to protect freedom. I expect good news this coming week,” he added.
Ukraine says it wants to secure shipments of US-made M270 long-range multiple rocket launchers.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Saturday that his country has started receiving Harpoon anti-ship missiles from Denmark and self-propelled howitzers from the United States, which are weapons that will support forces fighting Russian forces.
“The coastal defense of our country will not only be strengthened by the Harpoon missiles – they will be used by trained Ukrainian teams,” Reznikov wrote on his Facebook page, according to Archyde.com.
He said the Harpoon missiles will be used alongside Ukraine’s Neptune missiles to defend the coast, including the southern port of Odessa.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the West against sending weapons to Ukraine.
In a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he said on Saturday that supplying arms to Ukraine is “dangerous”, warning of “the risks of further destabilization and exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis.”
“The situation is very difficult”
Zelensky, in his address to the Ukrainian people, admitted that the situation on the front line in the Donbass and parts of the Kharkiv region is “indescribably difficult” for the Ukrainian army.
The Russian Defense Ministry had announced the expulsion of Ukrainian militants from new areas in Donbass, including the city of Lyman.
“The Donetsk People’s Forces, with the support of the Russian forces, liberated the strategic Donetsk city of Krasnyi Lyman completely from the militants,” she said in an official statement. This means that Russia is close to complete control of Donbass after capturing this strategic city.
Zelensky also accused Russian forces of trying to prevent the “exit” of Ukrainians from the occupied areas of the Kherson region in the south.
Heavy fighting continues near Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.