Zelenskyj: “Brutal and nonsensical”
Russian army intensifies airstrikes across the country
05/22/2022, 12:29 p.m
Mariupol has fallen, and now Russian troops are concentrating on other Ukrainian positions. The cities of Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk are next on Moscow’s list. But the Luftwaffe also flies attacks in other places.
According to Ukrainian sources, Russia is intensifying its airstrikes throughout Ukraine. The Russian army is continuing “its missile and air strikes on the entire territory” and has “increased the intensity,” the Ukrainian army general staff said. Accordingly, Moscow is increasingly using the air force “to destroy important infrastructure”.
Local Ukrainian authorities confirmed a Russian missile attack on the village of Malyn west of Kyiv. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow said on Saturday that it had destroyed a significant Western supply of weapons there with “high-precision, long-range sea-based weapons”. The Ukrainian authorities, on the other hand, spoke of damage to “civilian infrastructure”. The General Staff did not provide any information on a delivery of weapons that had been fired upon.
In the eastern Donbass region, after taking the port city of Mariupol completely, Russian troops are now apparently trying to capture the last Ukrainian positions as well. In the Luhansk region only the cities of Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk, separated by a river, are now controlled by Ukraine. Positions of Ukrainian troops would be shelled with Russian artillery along the entire front line in the area, the General Staff in Kyiv said.
Russian troops tried unsuccessfully to storm towns north, east and south of Sievjerodonetsk. Fighting was just as fierce for villages south of the route from Lysychansk to Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. The Russian army has been trying for days to cut off supplies from the Donetsk region to the Ukrainian groups around Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk. According to Ukrainian sources, the day before, a bridge over the Siwerskyi Donets between the twin cities of Lysychansk and Sievjerodonetsk was targeted and destroyed with 240-millimeter mortars. There were also artillery battles and bombardments in the Donetsk region.
Zelenskyj relies on diplomacy
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that almost 40 targets had been attacked from the air in the past 24 hours, including five weapons depots in the Donbass. In addition, more than 580 targets with rockets and artillery were fired at nationwide.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of “brutal and absolutely senseless” bombings and attacks on the civilian population, who sought refuge in cellars and tunnels. The situation in the Donbass is “extremely difficult”, but the Ukrainian army is pushing back the Russian offensive, Zelenskyy said in a video message on Saturday evening.
However, the war can ultimately only be ended through diplomacy, the President said. “There are things that we can only achieve at the negotiating table.” At the same time, Zelenskyj demanded further arms deliveries and security guarantees for Ukraine from the West.