In a belligerent speech to parliamentary leaders, more than four months into the war, Putin said Russia was just getting started in Ukraine and the prospects for negotiations would dim as the conflict dragged on .
“We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. It is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this,” he said.
In his Thursday night video message, Zelenskiy responded with defiance, saying the two-month operation to retake Serpents’ Island was a wake-up call for all Russian forces.
“Let every Russian captain on board a ship or plane see the Ukrainian flag on Snake Island and know that our country will not be broken,” he said.
Serpents’ Island, a speck south of the port of Odessa, has become a symbol of Ukrainian determination.
In February, when ordered to surrender, the island’s small Ukrainian garrison swore at its Russian attackers and was hit by an airstrike.
Russia abandoned the island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill – a victory for Ukraine which kyiv said could loosen Moscow’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.
On Thursday, Ukraine hoisted its blue and yellow flag on Serpents’ Island, which it recaptured. Moscow responded by sending its warplanes to strike the island and destroy part of the Ukrainian detachment there, the statement said.
Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, in what he called a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine, eradicate dangerous nationalists and protect Russian speakers. Ukraine and its allies claim that Russia has embarked on an Imperial-style land grab.
Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II has killed thousands, displaced millions and leveled dozens of Ukrainian towns. kyiv and the West accuse Russian forces of war crimes, but Moscow says it does not target civilians.
LOSS OF AN ALLI CL
On Thursday, kyiv lost one of its key international backers after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would step down. Moscow has not hidden its joy at the political disappearance of a leader it has long criticized for having armed kyiv with so much energy.
In a phone call, Johnson told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy: “You are a hero, everyone loves you,” a Johnson spokesman said.
“Britain’s support for Ukraine will not change no matter what happens in the halls of power in London. Boris and all our friends in the UK have assured us of that,” Zelenskiy said in his video address. nocturnal.
Johnson’s resignation comes at a time when some other European countries that support kyiv are in the throes of domestic unrest and their ability to hold on in what has become a protracted conflict is in doubt.
After failing to quickly take the capital kyiv, Russia is now engaged in a war of attrition in eastern Ukraine, in the industrial heartland of the Donbas.
On Sunday, Moscow said it had “liberated” the Luhansk region and now plans to capture parts of neighboring Donetsk it does not control. Luhansk and Donetsk constitute the Donbas.
The mayor of Kramatorsk, Donetsk city, said Russian forces fired missiles at the center of the city in an airstrike on Thursday and at least one person was killed and six injured.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said the missile damaged six buildings, including a hotel and an apartment building, in the major industrial centre.
Reuters could not independently verify these claims.
THE RUSSIAN “FANTASY”
Kramatorsk, mechanic-turned-soldier Archk helped bolster defenses against an impending Russian attack, while nearby Vasyl Avramenko, a farmer, lamented the loss of his alternate crops to landmines.
“Of course, we are already ready. We are ready,” Artchk said, identifying himself by his nom de guerre, Reuters.
“It’s their (the Russians’) fantasy to occupy these cities, but they don’t expect the level of resistance. It’s not just the Ukrainian government, it’s the people who refuse to accept them.”
The regional governor of the northeastern city of Kharkiv said late Thursday that three people had been killed and five others injured after Russian forces shelled the city.
In the crowd, bodies lying on the ground near a park bench were covered with sheets by the emergency services. Two women who had gone out to feed cats in the area had been killed, said local resident Yurii Chernomorets.
A man fell to his knees crying as the bloody corpse of his wife was placed in a body bag. He kissed her hand.
“Dad, she’s dead, please get up,” said a man who identified himself as their son.