War in Ukraine: Russian gains in east, Kiev calls on Moscow troops to surrender

In the field, a sign of faith earned Ukrainians After their victory Counter attack, Defense Minister Oleksiï Reznikov promised Russian soldiers willing to surrender “guarantees of life, safety and justice.” “You can still save Russia from tragedy and the Russian army from shame,” he said, adding that the defeats had prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to mobilize hundreds of thousands of men into the army.

Moscow, for its part, announced its first gains – three villages in eastern Ukraine – after losing thousands of square kilometers of territory on several fronts in recent weeks. The villages of Otradivka, Vessela Dolyna and Zaitseve are now under Russian control, according to pro-Russian separatists fighting alongside troops from Moscow.

The Russian Defense Ministry already announced the capture of Zaitseve in its daily report. All three villages are located south of the Ukrainian-controlled city of Baghmout. The Russian military has been trying to capture the region for months but has not been successful so far.

AFP journalists in Bakhmout on Friday heard heavy artillery fire and multiple rocket launchers in the center of the pre-war town of 70,000 people. Occasional bursts of machine gun fire could also be heard. A civilian volunteer for the humanitarian group Vostok SOS, Edouard Skorik, 29, told AFP there had been “street fighting” near his home on the other side of the Bakhmouta river.

Ukrainian forces also recorded gains on Friday: the village of Krakivka in the Luhansk region (east), according to Governor Serhii Keidai.

In the occupied Kherson (southern) region, a Ukrainian strike killed at least five civilians and wounded five others when they crashed into a civilian bus crossing a bridge on their way to work, pro-Russian official Kirill Stremoussov said. Kyiv has repeatedly targeted bridges in the region to disrupt the logistics of Russian forces.

The Ukrainian president’s office announced a new Russian strike in the Zaporizhia (southern) region for the second day in a row, injuring one person. “Infrastructure was destroyed in two districts. The aggressor used drones for the first time,” he said. The day before, eleven people were killed in Russian attacks in Zaporizhia, according to Ukrainian emergency services.

Denis Pushilin, head of pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk region (east), noted the “very difficult” situation nearby. Lyman, a railway junction recently taken over by Ukrainian forces, where Russian troops escaped encirclement. According to him, the latter are strengthening a new defense line near Kreminna to the east, which Ukrainian forces are “raiding day and night”.

“I think we have every opportunity to gather forces and start liberating territories with fresh reserves,” he added, announcing the dispatch of reinforcements.

As for the nuclear threat, it is peaking. After threats Vladimir Putin Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday spoke of “preventive strikes” against Russia to use nuclear weapons to defend territories the Kremlin considers Russia. The Ukrainian presidency quickly backtracked, saying Zelensky was talking about advance “sanctions” and not strikes, and Russian officials slammed his comments.

The Kremlin condemned the “invitation to start a new world war” and Sergei Lavrov, the head of Russian diplomacy, considered such declarations to be justification for a Russian invasion. For the first time since the Cold War, US President Joe Biden has warned of the danger of an “apocalypse”.