Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said the situation at the front remained “extremely acute”, particularly in the eastern Donetsk region where Russia is stepping up an offensive.
‘The occupiers are not just storming our positions, they are deliberately and methodically destroying the towns and villages around them, with artillery, air strikes, missiles
Zelensky reported major battles for Vuhledar, to the southwest of Donetsk, and Bakhmut, to the northeast. Bakhmut has largely been pulverised by repeated Russian attacks.
“The occupiers are not just storming our positions, they are deliberately and methodically destroying the towns and villages around them, with artillery, air strikes, missiles,” he said in an evening video address. “The Russian army has no shortage of lethal means and can only be stopped by force.”
READ ALSO: U.S: Air Force general predicts war with China in 2025
The area around Bakhmut, with a pre-war population of 70,000, has seen some of the most brutal fighting of the 11-month-old war. The town has symbolic importance for both Russia and Ukraine, though western military analysts say it has little strategic significance.
Czech election
Former Czech army chief Petr Pavel, a strongly pro-western candidate who backs aid for Ukraine, was projected to win the Czech Republic’s presidential election on Saturday, early results and model projections showed.
A projection model by news website www.seznamzpravy. cz using early results, released by the Czech statistical office which is managing the vote tally, showed Pavel beating billionaire businessman and former Prime Minister Andrej Babis with between 57.6 per cent and 58.8 per cent of the vote
