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KIEV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the fifth day of the war on Saturday by saluting his country’s soldiers in a video from a Black Sea island that has become a symbol of Ukraine’s resilience in the face of a Russian invasion.
Speaking from Snake Island, Zelensky honored the Ukrainian soldiers who fought for the island and all other defenders of the country, saying that regaining control of the island was “great proof that Ukraine will recover every part of its territory”.
“I want to thank – from here, from this place of victory – each of our soldiers for these 500 days,” Zelensky said. “Thank you to everyone who fought for Ukraine!”
It was not clear when the video was filmed. Zelensky was returning from Türkiye on Saturday.
He announced that five defense commanders at the Azovstal steel plant, a grueling siege that lasted for months early in the war, were back on board with him.
The sprawling steel mills were the last bastion of resistance as Russian forces took control of the port city of Mariupol. Its defenders became known among Ukrainians for having endured miserable conditions in the factory’s tunnels and corridors.
More than 2,000 defenders of Azovstal left the steel mills in mid-May 2022 and were taken into Russian captivity. The five commanders, some of whom were part of the Azov National Guard regiment that Russia denounces as neo-Nazis, were freed in a prisoner exchange in September and taken to Turkey.
Under the exchange, the commanders were to remain in Turkey until the end of the war under the protection of the Turkish president. There was no immediate official explanation from either Ankara or Kiev as to why they were allowed to return to Ukraine.
Russian forces took control of Snake Island on February 24, 2022, the day Moscow launched its invasion, hoping to use it as a springboard to launch an assault on Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port and home to its fleet.
The island acquired legendary importance for the Ukrainian resistance, when Ukrainian forces there reportedly received a request from a Russian warship to surrender or be bombed. The answer supposedly came, “Go (expletive) yourself.”
The Ukrainian defenders of the island were captured but later released as part of a prisoner exchange. After capturing the island, the Ukrainian military heavily bombed the small Russian garrison there, forcing the Russians to withdraw on 30 June 2022. The Russian withdrawal reduced the risk of a Russian seaborne attack on Odessa and helped pave the way for an agreement to resume Ukrainian grain exports.
Zelensky said: “Let the freedom that all our heroes of different ages wanted for Ukraine and that now must be won be a tribute to all those who gave their lives for Ukraine.” “We will definitely win!”
Fierce battles continued to rage on Saturday in the country’s east and south as Ukrainian forces intensified their attacks against Russia’s layered defenses in the early stages of their strength. counterattack.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said a Russian missile strike on the town of Liman killed eight civilians and wounded 13 others early Saturday morning. Pavlo Kirilenko, the governor of the eastern Donetsk region, posted photos showing some of the dead, including a body lying under a bicycle and body fragments on the sidewalk next to a damaged car, saying that “Russian terrorists continue to beat civilians in Donetsk”.
Liman is located a few kilometers from the front line, where Russian forces have recently intensified fighting in the Kremina forests.
The British Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence update that the eastern town of Bakhmut, which the Russians captured in May, has seen some of the fiercest fighting along the front over the past week.
It said that Ukrainian forces had made steady gains in both north and south of Bakhmut, noting that “the Russian defenders are likely to struggle with low morale, a mix of disparate units and a limited ability to find and hit Ukrainian artillery”.
Amid the fighting, Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of plotting to sabotage the Russian-controlled Zaporizhye nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, sparking fears of a radiological disaster. Ukraine’s military intelligence on Saturday claimed that Russian forces had laid more mines around the factory, a claim that could not be independently verified.
The head of the United Nations nuclear agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told the Associated Press on Friday that IAEA experts had recently gained access to more of the site, including the cooling pond and fuel storage areas, and found no mines there. . Grossi said he was still pushing for access to the reactor rooftops, where Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of planting explosives.
On Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was seen visiting shooting ranges where volunteer soldiers are trained, a trip that comes two weeks after a failed revolt by mercenary commander Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner forces marched into Moscow in an attempt to overthrow Shoigu.
Prigozhin agreed to end the rebellion, which represents the biggest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin in more than two decades in power, in exchange for a pardon for himself and his forces and permission to move to Belarus. On Saturday, the Russian messaging app’s channels posted comments by one of Wagner’s commanders, Anton Ilizarov, who said the mercenaries had left but would eventually be deployed to Belarus.
Fierce battles rage along Ukraine’s front line as NATO leaders meet in Vilnius for a two-day summit next week to further help modernize Ukraine’s armed forces, create a new high-level forum for consultations and reaffirm that. They will join their alliance one day.
Before the NATO summit, the United States announced that it would supply cluster munitions to Ukraine, a move President Joe Biden called a “difficult decision”. Two-thirds of NATO members have banned the munitions, which have a track record of causing many civilian casualties, but the US sees delivering them as a way to help bolster the Ukrainian offensive and push across the Russian front lines.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov applauded the US move, saying the delivery of cluster munitions would help the country end the occupation of its territory while saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.
Reznikov vowed that Ukraine would only use the munitions to end the occupation of its territory and would not release them into Russian territory. He also indicated that the Ukrainian military would not use cluster munitions in urban areas to avoid harming civilians.
Speaking from Snake Island, Zelensky honored the Ukrainian soldiers who fought for the island and all other defenders of the country, saying that regaining control of the island was “great proof that Ukraine will recover every part of its territory”.
“I want to thank – from here, from this place of victory – each of our soldiers for these 500 days,” Zelensky said. “Thank you to everyone who fought for Ukraine!”
It was not clear when the video was filmed. Zelensky was returning from Türkiye on Saturday.
He announced that five defense commanders at the Azovstal steel plant, a grueling siege that lasted for months early in the war, were back on board with him.
The sprawling steel mills were the last bastion of resistance as Russian forces took control of the port city of Mariupol. Its defenders became known among Ukrainians for having endured miserable conditions in the factory’s tunnels and corridors.
More than 2,000 defenders of Azovstal left the steel mills in mid-May 2022 and were taken into Russian captivity. The five commanders, some of whom were part of the Azov National Guard regiment that Russia denounces as neo-Nazis, were freed in a prisoner exchange in September and taken to Turkey.
Under the exchange, the commanders were to remain in Turkey until the end of the war under the protection of the Turkish president. There was no immediate official explanation from either Ankara or Kiev as to why they were allowed to return to Ukraine.
Russian forces took control of Snake Island on February 24, 2022, the day Moscow launched its invasion, hoping to use it as a springboard to launch an assault on Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port and home to its fleet.
The island acquired legendary importance for the Ukrainian resistance, when Ukrainian forces there reportedly received a request from a Russian warship to surrender or be bombed. The answer supposedly came, “Go (expletive) yourself.”
The Ukrainian defenders of the island were captured but later released as part of a prisoner exchange. After capturing the island, the Ukrainian military heavily bombed the small Russian garrison there, forcing the Russians to withdraw on 30 June 2022. The Russian withdrawal reduced the risk of a Russian seaborne attack on Odessa and helped pave the way for an agreement to resume Ukrainian grain exports.
Zelensky said: “Let the freedom that all our heroes of different ages wanted for Ukraine and that now must be won be a tribute to all those who gave their lives for Ukraine.” “We will definitely win!”
Fierce battles continued to rage on Saturday in the country’s east and south as Ukrainian forces intensified their attacks against Russia’s layered defenses in the early stages of their strength. counterattack.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said a Russian missile strike on the town of Liman killed eight civilians and wounded 13 others early Saturday morning. Pavlo Kirilenko, the governor of the eastern Donetsk region, posted photos showing some of the dead, including a body lying under a bicycle and body fragments on the sidewalk next to a damaged car, saying that “Russian terrorists continue to beat civilians in Donetsk”.
Liman is located a few kilometers from the front line, where Russian forces have recently intensified fighting in the Kremina forests.
The British Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence update that the eastern town of Bakhmut, which the Russians captured in May, has seen some of the fiercest fighting along the front over the past week.
It said that Ukrainian forces had made steady gains in both north and south of Bakhmut, noting that “the Russian defenders are likely to struggle with low morale, a mix of disparate units and a limited ability to find and hit Ukrainian artillery”.
Amid the fighting, Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of plotting to sabotage the Russian-controlled Zaporizhye nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, sparking fears of a radiological disaster. Ukraine’s military intelligence on Saturday claimed that Russian forces had laid more mines around the factory, a claim that could not be independently verified.
The head of the United Nations nuclear agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told the Associated Press on Friday that IAEA experts had recently gained access to more of the site, including the cooling pond and fuel storage areas, and found no mines there. . Grossi said he was still pushing for access to the reactor rooftops, where Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of planting explosives.
On Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was seen visiting shooting ranges where volunteer soldiers are trained, a trip that comes two weeks after a failed revolt by mercenary commander Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner forces marched into Moscow in an attempt to overthrow Shoigu.
Prigozhin agreed to end the rebellion, which represents the biggest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin in more than two decades in power, in exchange for a pardon for himself and his forces and permission to move to Belarus. On Saturday, the Russian messaging app’s channels posted comments by one of Wagner’s commanders, Anton Ilizarov, who said the mercenaries had left but would eventually be deployed to Belarus.
Fierce battles rage along Ukraine’s front line as NATO leaders meet in Vilnius for a two-day summit next week to further help modernize Ukraine’s armed forces, create a new high-level forum for consultations and reaffirm that. They will join their alliance one day.
Before the NATO summit, the United States announced that it would supply cluster munitions to Ukraine, a move President Joe Biden called a “difficult decision”. Two-thirds of NATO members have banned the munitions, which have a track record of causing many civilian casualties, but the US sees delivering them as a way to help bolster the Ukrainian offensive and push across the Russian front lines.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov applauded the US move, saying the delivery of cluster munitions would help the country end the occupation of its territory while saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.
Reznikov vowed that Ukraine would only use the munitions to end the occupation of its territory and would not release them into Russian territory. He also indicated that the Ukrainian military would not use cluster munitions in urban areas to avoid harming civilians.
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