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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!” Russian forces took control of the tiny stony island on February 24, 2022, the day Moscow launched its invasion, apparently 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 a legendary significance for Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion, when Ukrainian forces there reportedly received a request from a Russian warship to surrender or be bombed. The answer supposedly came, “Go (expletive) yourself.” Ukraine celebrated the story with patriotic fervour, issuing a postage stamp in remembrance.
The Ukrainian defenders of the island were captured by the Russians 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 June 30, 2022.
The Russian withdrawal reduced the risk of a Russian naval 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 counter-offensive.
Pavlo Kirilenko, governor of the eastern Donetsk region, said a Russian missile strike on the city of Liman killed six civilians and injured five others early Saturday morning.
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 Ukrainian forces had made steady gains both north and south of Pakhmut in the Donetsk region, noting that “the Russian defenders likely suffer from poor morale, a mix of disparate units and limited ability to find and strike Ukrainian artillery.” He successfully repulsed Ukrainian attacks on different sectors of the front and inflicted heavy losses on the attackers.
On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry released footage of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visiting shooting ranges where volunteer soldiers are being trained.
Fierce battles rage along the front line as NATO leaders meet in Vilnius for a two-day summit next week to offer more help modernizing Ukraine’s armed forces, creating a new high-level forum for consultations and reaffirming that it will join. their alliance one day.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his support for Ukraine’s accession to NATO, saying that it deserves to join the alliance.
He made the comment at a joint press conference with Zelensky, who visited Turkey as part of a European tour to drum up support for Ukraine’s joining the military alliance after the end of the war with Russia.
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 munitions that have a track record of causing many civilian casualties, but the US sees handing them over 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 pledged that Ukraine would only use the munitions to end the occupation of its territory and would not launch them into Russian territory.
Reznikov also noted that the Ukrainian military will not use cluster munitions in urban areas to avoid harm to civilians, adding that they will be placed in the field to “penetrate enemy defense lines with minimal risk to the lives of our soldiers.”
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