Fierce fighting continued on Friday for control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Vaugledar, which Russian forces are trying to capture, while Vladimir Putin went after Ukrainian “neo-Nazis” on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the occasion of the International Day of Victims of the Nazi Genocide against the Jews, stressed that “indifference and hatred” continue to kill without a name for Russia’s attack. Published on February 24, 2022.
He also denounced the “hypocrisy” of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and invited its president, Thomas Bach, to visit Bachmouth, one of the hot spots of the war with Russia in the country’s east. ‘Ukraine.
And he “can see with his own eyes that there is no neutrality,” he added, despite Kyiv’s repeated calls to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from the planned 2024 Olympics in Paris, despite the IOC announcing Wednesday it would “explore” the possibility of authorizing them to compete under a neutral banner. .
About 150km from Bagmouth, Vaugleder, a mining town of 15,000 people before the Russian invasion, saw “fierce, brutal” clashes, with Russian troops “set up in the south-east and east of the town”, an official said. Pro-Russian officers of the eastern region of Donetsk, Ian Kagin.
The Ukrainian military’s spokesman for the eastern zone, Serhiy Tserevaty, confirmed that the Russians had been repulsed and confirmed “fierce fighting”.
Intensity of Russian attacks
“The enemy is really trying to achieve victory in this sector, but they did not achieve it thanks to the efforts of the defense forces of Ukraine,” he said on television. “The enemy exaggerates, to put it mildly, his achievement,” he continued, “and in the face of his losses, the enemy retreats.”
The separatist leader judged that the “encirclement and impending liberation” of the region would make it possible to “change the balance of forces at the front” by opening the way for an offensive towards Pokrovsk and Kurakov, further north. Denis Pushilin, Donetsk.
Ukraine said this week that Russian troops had stepped up their attacks in the east, particularly on Vougledar and Bakhmout, the latter of which had been their target for months.
The Institute for the Study of War says Russia is seeking to “dissolve” Ukrainian forces to “create the conditions for a decisive offensive operation”.
Russian soldiers and the paramilitary group Wagner’s men recently captured Soledar, north of Bagmouth, the first victory in months and a series of humiliating setbacks for the Kremlin.
“The Russians are advancing, firing continuously, day and night, they are trying to find weak points in our defences,” 44-year-old Ukrainian soldier Yuriy told AFP in a trench in Bagmouth.
To the east, in Chasiv Yar, two people were killed and at least five wounded by Russian artillery on Friday, local officials said.
Further north, in the Kharkiv region, the Ukrainian president announced that two more people had been killed in shelling of the village of Dvorichna.
According to the same source, the southern city of Kherson was also targeted by Russian bombs.
Russia has mobilized hundreds of thousands of reservists and criminals to break through Ukrainian borders and seize what’s left of the Donbass, a vast industrial zone in eastern Ukraine.
Also 60 Polish tanks
In this context, President Zelenski welcomed Poland’s announced decision to supply his country with 60 additional tanks, half of which would be a modernized version of the Soviet T-72, after already promising 14 German-made Panther 2s.
At the same time, the Belgian government has moved to provide Ukraine with new financing, particularly for the supply of missiles, machine guns, ammunition and armored vehicles.
As for the Ukrainian Air Force, it ruled on Friday that the US-made F/16 “could be the best candidate” to “become the only type” for general purpose in its fleet, according to its spokesman Yuriy Ignat.
The Ukrainian president has called for fighter jets and long-range missiles, many weapons the West has so far refused to provide.
For its part, the European Union has decided to extend by six months sanctions imposed on Russia when it annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and is preparing new measures against Moscow.
However, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted on Friday that he would “continue to talk with Russia”.
Putin Condemns “Neo-Nazis in Ukraine”.
“Forgetting the lessons of history will repeat terrible tragedies. Evidence of this is crimes against civilians, ethnic cleansing (and) punitive measures organized by neo-Nazis in Ukraine”, it condemned in a statement the same day. Vladimir Putin.
A rhetoric used by the Russian head of state to defend a Russian military offensive.
“Let’s remember that Putin is building new camps in the east on the day that the German Hitler’s death camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau, were liberated,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki responded sharply. French diplomatic chief Catherine Colonna, Mr.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ats / afp