Tag: Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s soldiers are fighting hard against the Russian army near the border, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The death toll from a building collapse in Russia, caused by Ukrainian shelling, has now risen to 15.

Zelenskyy said that there are very intense fights happening near the border in eastern and northeastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian soldiers are fighting hard against the much stronger Russian ground offensive.

“Hard fights are happening on a big part of our border,” Zelenskyy said in his video message on Sunday night.

Ukraine’s military leaders said on Sunday that Russian soldiers attacked 22 times in two areas of the Kharkiv region in the past day and had some success in their operations. They did not give more details about the attacks.

The Kremlin’s forces want to take advantage of Ukraine’s weaknesses before they receive a lot of new military help from the US and Europe. Analysts say this will happen in the next few weeks and months. They say this is a good chance for Moscow and a scary time for Kyiv in the two-year war.

Russian forces are making new advances into the northeastern Kharkiv region and eastern Donetsk region after the front line had not moved much for months, which is about 1,000 kilometers long. Both sides have been using long-range attacks in a war where they are trying to wear each other down.

The Kharkiv invasion might be a way to make a safe area to protect Belgorod, a Russian region near the border that is often attacked by Ukraine. This is embarrassing for the Kremlin. In March, Russia said it would take about 9,000 kids out of Belgorod because the area was being bombed a lot.

Russian firefighters and rescue teams completed the clean-up after a part of a residential building collapsed in Belgorod, Russia. The collapse was believed to be caused by shelling from Ukraine.

Fifteen people were found dead in the wreckage, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod region. Twenty-seven others were injured.

He said that three more people in Belgorod city were killed by shelling on Sunday night.

Yevgeny Poddubny, a military reporter for Russia’s state TV company VGTRK, said on Telegram that the attack on Kharkiv was the start of a new phase.

“We’re making the enemy go away from the border and getting rid of them so the Kyiv government can’t use cheap rockets to attack Belgorod,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin changed the defense minister in his government on Sunday. Shoigu was an important person in Putin’s choice to send Russian soldiers to Ukraine in February 2022. Russia thought they would defeat Ukraine’s army easily and be welcomed by the Ukrainian people.

Zelenskyy said the fighting in Donetsk is just as intense as in Kharkiv. He said the Kremlin wants to weaken us by starting a new fight in Kharkiv.

He said that the area near Pokrovsk region in Donetsk, just inside the Ukraine border, is very challenging.

Before the war, Pokrovsk was a town with about 60,000 people. It used to take two hours to drive from the front line to Pokrovsk. Now it is less than a half of that amount.

In February, taking over Avdiivka allowed the Kremlin’s troops to move further into Donetsk. In 2022, Russia took control of Donetsk and three other regions, which was not allowed, after invading Ukraine. The Kremlin wants to have full control of Donetsk as part of their main war goals.

Even though Ukraine was ready for a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region, they were too slow to build defenses in some areas. Ukrainian soldiers have criticized their leaders for this.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired a trusted assistant and some advisors on Saturday. This is part of a larger staff change. Meanwhile, Russia launched new attacks overnight.

Zelenskyy fired his top aide Serhiy Shefir from his job as first assistant, which he had been doing since 2019. The Ukrainian president fired three advisers and two officials who were in charge of helping volunteers and soldiers.

No one explained right away why there were big changes in the staff recently. On Tuesday, Oleksii Danilov and Valerii Zaluzhnyi were fired from their jobs. Oleksii Danilov was the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, and Valerii Zaluzhnyi was in charge of the armed forces. This happened on February. Write this text in simpler words: “8. ” Earlier this month, he was chosen to be Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Ukraine’s air force said that Russia sent 12 drones and shot 9 down, and also fired 4 missiles into eastern Ukraine.

Russia fired 38 missiles, carried out 75 airstrikes, and launched 98 attacks using rocket launchers in the past day, according to Ukraine’s military.

Ukrainian energy company Centrenergo said on Saturday that the Zmiiv Thermal Power Plant, one of the biggest power plants in eastern Kharkiv region, was destroyed by Russian shelling last week. Despite efforts, approximately 120,000 people in the area were still experiencing power outages. A total of 700,000 people initially lost electricity after the plant was damaged on March 22nd.

Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s energy stuff more and more, and it has caused a lot of damage in different places.

Authorities in the Poltava region said on Saturday that a facility, like a power plant, had been hit several times. But they didn’t say exactly what kind of facility it was.

At the same time, we found out on Saturday that 99 drones and missiles hit different areas of Ukraine on Friday. Local officials in the Kherson region also said one civilian died on Saturday morning. A person from the Dnipropetrovsk region passed away in a hospital because of injuries from a shell, as reported by the regional Governor.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated that the fighting would continue without a cease-fire, as this could allow Russian forces to regroup and launch further attacks.

“A break in fighting in Ukraine doesn’t mean the war is over,” Zelenskyy said while visiting Estonia. “Stopping for a moment would help Russia. ” It could destroy us later.

There have been a few times when people suggested temporary peace during Russia’s war in February 2022, but it never really happened.

Both groups are trying to get more weapons after fighting for 22 months. They might have to fight for a long time. During the winter, the front line is mostly still and about 1,500 kilometers long. They both need weapons like artillery shells, missiles, and drones that can reach far away targets.

Zelenskyy said that Russia is getting bombs and missiles from North Korea and flying machines from Iran. On January 1st. The White House said that the US intelligence officials believe Russia got ballistic missiles from North Korea and is trying to get them from Iran.

Zelenskyy visited Tallinn in Estonia as part of a two-day trip to Baltic countries, which have been strong supporters of Ukraine.

He met with the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, who gave him a shirt with the Estonian words “Kaitsetahe” meaning “The will to defend” printed on it. Zelenskyy wore the shirt while speaking to the parliament.

We need to stop tyranny. “Zelenskyy said that tyranny should not win. ” “Always” means all the time. All the time.

Zelenskyy and Kallas talked about Ukrainians who left for Estonia during the war. He said at a news conference that those of draft age should go back to Ukraine to help.

He said this as lawmakers in Kyiv sent a proposed law back to the government for changes. They were worried it might have rights violations and other problems.

The new law wants to make it harder for people who avoided joining the military when they were supposed to. Ukraine doesn’t have enough soldiers and needs more people to join.

Zelenskyy said last month that Ukraine’s military wants to get 500,000 more troops ready, but he said he had asked the leaders to explain the details on what is “a very sensitive matter” before deciding whether to agree.

He is asking for more help for Ukraine from its friends, in addition to the billions of dollars in military aid it has already received from the West.

“Ukraine requires more and better weapons,” said President Alar Karis during a news conference with Zelenskyy at the Presidential Palace.

“We need to make more military equipment so that Ukraine can have what it needs,” he said. “And if it’s not tomorrow, they should receive it today. ”

Zelenskyy visited Riga, the capital of Latvia. President Edgars Rinkevics said Latvia would give more military help to Ukraine. This was reported by Latvian public broadcaster LSM.

Latvia will give different weapons and bullets to Ukraine, like missiles, howitzers, 155 mm shells, and drones, as requested by Zelenskyy, according to LSM.

On Wednesday, Zelenskyy got promise of more help from Lithuania.

The European Union countries have given Ukraine 85 billion euros ($93 billion) in help. This was said by Karis. However, the help has decreased, worrying Ukrainians who would struggle to defend themselves against their larger neighbor on their own.

The US government wants to give $60 billion to Kyiv, but Congress hasn’t approved it yet. Europe promised to give 1 million artillery shells within a year, but they have only given about 300,000 so far.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine really needs defense systems to protect against Russian airstrikes that have hit civilian areas, even though Moscow officials say they are only targeting military sites.

In recent weeks, there have been a lot of Russian attacks with over 500 drones and missiles fired in December. On January 29th. According to officials in Kyiv, there are two significant challenges. They are using up Ukraine’s air defence resources and making it weak unless it can get more weapons.

The little countries in Eastern Europe are some of the biggest supporters of Ukraine when it comes to politics, money, and the military. Some people in the Baltic countries are worried that Moscow might attack them next.

Joseph Stalin took control of the three countries during World War II and they became part of the Soviet Union. They got their independence back when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. They became a part of NATO in 2004, which means they asked for help in case of war from the US and its friends.

Wednesday night, a Russian missile hit a hotel in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, and hurt 13 people, including a journalist from Turkey and the local governor. Oleh Syniehubov spoke. The city has been under attack for the past four nights, he said.