New Delhi: Amid heavy fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russian forces want to “burn” the eastern Ukrainian region and make it “uninhabited”.
In his nightly address Thursday, Zelenskyy also accused the Russian invasion of Ukraine to be “genocidal” in nature, with hundreds of civilians being killed or deported from the country.
Campaign heats up in the east
In a Facebook post Thursday, the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said that Russian troops did not “stop its offensive actions in the Eastern Operation Zone” and continued to “launch missile and air strikes on infrastructure facilities in Eastern Ukraine”, causing more destruction in the already war-torn region.
The mayor of Severodonetsk, Oleksander Striyuk, has also said that 1,500 people have been killed so far and that “60 per cent of the housing stock is completely destroyed and up to 90 per cent of buildings are damaged and need repairs”, reported the BBC.
In a Telegram post Friday, the governor of Luhansk Oblast, Serhiy Haidai, recounted how, “throughout the day, the Russians tried to advance to Severodonetsk from Purdivka and Shchedryshchevo”. Haidai also reported four civilian deaths on 26 May in Severodonetsk and 50 damaged houses across the region.
In its assessment on 26 May, the Institute for the Study of War stated that Russia “continued efforts to encircle Severodonetsk”.
Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the People’s Militia Department, Donetsk People’s Republic, has been quoted as saying that Russia continues to use the “small boilers” tactic wherein parts of the Ukrainian troops are “deprived of supplies and mutual assistance”.
Zelenskyy asks for more arms
In his address on 24 May, President Zelenskyy had made a plea to Western states to supply more arms to Ukrainian forces in order to fend off the Russians.
Zelenskyy said that “the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine–MLRS, tanks, anti-ship and other weapons–is the best investment in maintaining stability in the world”.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, held a Twitter LIVE Thursday and answered questions on the Russia-Ukraine war.
When asked about what people should push for in support of Ukraine, he again reiterated Ukraine’s need for arms and ammunition. Kuleba said, “Push for multiple launch rocket systems. We need heavy weapons. The only position where Russia is better than us, it’s the amount of heavy weapons they have.”
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 26, 2022
Ukraine’s request for more arms comes amid US President Joe Biden increasing military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine by $40 billion. The US Senate had on 18 May approved President Biden’s request for additional aid, bringing their wartime aid to Ukraine to a total of $54 billion.
With inputs from Suchet Vir Singh
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