RAccording to Ukrainian information, US troops have established themselves in several places in eastern Ukraine. Russian units have gained a foothold in the small town of Losowa, an important railway junction in the Kharkiv region in the east of the country, according to the Ukrainian General Staff in its report on Friday evening.
In the areas of Selena Dolyna in the Donetsk region and Crimea in the Luhansk region, which is about 40 kilometers to the east and was conquered a few days ago, Russian troops are expanding their positions and preparing for further advances. They could also have gained a foothold in the town of Stepne in the Donetsk region.
Attacks were fended off in the Luhansk region, around 80 percent of which is already under Russian control, according to Ukrainian sources, in the area of the city of Rubishne and the village of Novotoschkivske. The information could not be independently verified.
Zelenskyj calls on Ukrainians to resist Russia
The Ukrainian President called on the citizens of his country to resist the Russian war of aggression. “Everyone has to defend themselves against the occupation at every opportunity,” said Selenskyj in his video message every evening on Saturday night. People shouldn’t cooperate with the Russians. Those living in areas controlled by Russian units should “cause them as much trouble as possible.”
Zelenskyj also reacted to Russia’s specification of its war goals. The area where Russia should take care of the rights of Russian speakers “is Russia itself,” he said. There is no freedom of speech there, and poverty thrives.
On Friday, a senior Russian military official said that in the second phase of the war in Ukraine they wanted to capture the Donbass in the east and south of the country and there was still access to Transnistria, where “oppression of the Russian-speaking population” was also noted . Russia uses this argument to justify its war of aggression in Ukraine. Russian troops are stationed in the Transnistria region, which broke away from Moldova.
The statements from Russia also confirmed what he had already said several times: “That the Russian invasion of Ukraine should only be the beginning and after that they want to conquer other countries.”
Ukraine: Possible escape corridor from Mariupol on Saturday
According to Ukrainian sources, an evacuation from the badly damaged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol could take place on Saturday. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk on Facebook late Friday evening. She went on to say that escape corridors out of the city had failed several times and that she understood how difficult this was for people. “But you and I have to try so many times until it works.”