Volodymyr Zelenskiy strikes defiant note as rocket and artillery fire targets 300-mile frontline in region
Russia has launched its long-anticipated offensive in Ukraine’s east, with Moscow announcing that its forces had carried out one of the largest barrages of strikes since the beginning of the invasion.
“No matter how many soldiers are driven there, we will defend ourselves. We will fight. We will not give up anything Ukrainian.”A Zelenskiy aide said on Tuesday that the offensive was going “very cautiously” and would fail because Moscow’s forces lacked the strength to break through Ukrainian defences. “Their offensive will fail – I give you a 99% guarantee – they simply do not have enough strength,” said the presidential adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych.
Ukrainian positions along the 2014-22 eastern frontline are the longest established and therefore reportedly some of the strongest. Moscow is using the city as a launching point for its assault against Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the industrial heartland in the east of the country already partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
“Unfortunately I have to declare that as of today they are forcibly deporting” residents, Vadym Boichenko told Ukrainian television. “We have verified through the municipal register that they have already deported over 40,000 people.”Moscow is edging closer to full control of the city in what would be its biggest prize since it. Relentless bombardment and street fighting have left much of the city pulverised, killing at least 21,000 people by Ukrainian estimates.
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