While Ukraine will celebrate its independence from the USSR on August 24, the head of state believes that “Russia could try to do something particularly disgusting”.
Russia coulddo something particularly disgusting” and “cruelnext week in Ukraine, when the latter will celebrate its Independence Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Saturday evening in his traditional address. “One of the key objectives of the enemy is to humble us“, of “sow despondency, fear and conflict“, but “we must be strong enough to resist any provocation” and “make the occupiers pay for their terror“, he added.
An adviser to the presidency, Mykhailo Podoliak, estimated that Russia could intensify its bombardments of Ukrainian cities during August 23 and 24. “Russia is an archaic state that binds its actions to certain dates, it’s a kind of obsession. They hate us and will try to increase (…) the number of bombardments of our cities including kyiv with cruise missiles“, he said according to the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
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Ukraine celebrates its independence from the USSR in 1991 on August 24. This year, this date will also mark the six months of the Russian invasion which killed tens of thousands of people and caused massive destruction in this country. In this context, the kyiv authorities announced on Sunday the ban on all public gatherings from August 22 to 25 in the capital. The governor of the Kharkiv region (center-east) for his part announced on Saturday a long curfew planned from the evening of August 23 to the morning of August 25. “Let’s be as vigilant as possible during our Independence Day“argued Governor Oleg Synegoubov on Telegram.
After failing to take kyiv, the Russians concentrated their efforts in the industrial east and the agricultural south of Ukraine. The pro-kyiv governor of the Donetsk region (East) Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on Sunday that four civilians were killed and two others injured the day before by Russians in this territory. In the Kharkiv region (center-east), a woman has been killed and two other civilians have been injured since Saturday evening in Russian bombardments, the regional prosecutor’s office said on Sunday.
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The Odessa region (south) was targeted by five Russian Kalibr-type cruise missiles launched from the Black Sea, said the spokesman for the regional administration Serguiï Bratchouk. Two were shot down by anti-aircraft defense and three others hit a silo with no casualties, he added.
“The enemy tries to continue its offensive in the Donetsk regionand succeeded in occupying part of the Blagodatné locality in the Mykolaiv region (South), the Ukrainian army said in its morning report on Facebook. She also warned of the risk of Russian strikes from Belarus, an ally of Moscow.
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