[イジュム（ウクライナ） ２０日 ロイター] – According to Ukrainian officials, the Ukrainian army is preparing to advance its forces eastward into abandoned territory by Russia and to counterattack Russian forces in the Donbass region.
Pro-Russian leaders in Donbass have called for a speedy referendum on Russia’s annexation, showing signs of nervousness over Ukraine’s momentum.
“The occupiers are clearly in a state of panic,” President Zelensky said in a televised address on the night of the 19th. He said the focus was on “speed” in liberated areas, adding: “The speed with which our troops move. The speed with which we can resume normal life.”
In a video address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, he said he would call on countries to do more to provide weapons and aid.
Gaidai, the governor of Lugansk province in the Donbass region, which is now under Russian military control, said Ukrainian forces had taken full control of the village of Bilokholivka in the province and were ready to take back the entire province.
In another Donetsk region in the Donbass region, 13 people were killed in shelling of the city of Donetsk on Saturday, according to Russian-backed separatist officials.
Archyde.com has not been able to independently confirm the situation in the two states.
Pro-Russian leader of Donetsk region Denis Pushirin called on pro-Russian leaders in Lugansk to help prepare for a referendum on Russia’s annexation. “We should act together,” he said in a video posted on social media on Wednesday.
Sinegbov, governor of Kharkov province in eastern Ukraine, said on Thursday that 146 bodies, mostly civilians, had been exhumed so far in a mass grave near Izyum in the province, which had been recaptured from Russian forces. President Zelensky has said he believes 450 bodies are buried in a mass grave found in the woods outside Izym.
Ukrainian state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom announced that Russian forces had attacked a South Ukraine nuclear power plant in the southern Mikolayov region in the early hours of the 19th. The reactor was not damaged and was operating normally.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Monday that reserve transmission lines to the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine had been cut on Monday. However, it said it was still connected to one of its main power lines, which was restored last week.