The battle of Donbas has begun: Ukraine
The battle of Donbas has begun, the Ukraine president said in his nightly address, adding that a "very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive. No matter how many Russian troops they send there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves," he underlined, declaring that the war-battered country will continue the resistance.
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Kyiv, Apr 19: In what has been described as the “second phase of war” by Kyiv, Russia is said to have launched a fresh offensive in the east of the country. The Donetsk region frontline was rocked by powerful explosions with shelling taking place in Marinka, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, news agency Reuters cited local media as reporting. Moscow’s assault in the rebel-held region of Donbas in the east has started, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
The battle of Donbas has begun, the Ukraine president said in his nightly address, adding that a "very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive. No matter how many Russian troops they send there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves," he underlined, declaring that the war-battered country will continue the resistance.
A Russian missile attack in the western city of Lviv - which was so far believed to have been relatively safer - left seven people dead on Monday. “There are no safe and unsafe locations,” in the country right now, mayor Andriy Ivanovych Sadovyi was quoted as saying in multiple reports. US president Joe Biden will hold a call with allies on Tuesday on the war. Overnight, military facilities in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions and in the port of Mykolayiv, which are in south and east Ukraine, were targeted by Moscow, the Russian defence ministry said, Reuters reported.
“We are not giving up any of our territories,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, was quoted as saying by news agency AP. “This morning, almost along the whole front line of the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions, the occupiers attempted to break through our defenses. Fortunately, our military is holding out. They passed through only two cities. This is Kreminna and another small town." Over the weekend, Russia had stepped up the attacks in the port city of Mariupol as Ukraine vowed to fight till the end. The port city is seen as key, according to an AP report. According to US officials, it could free up a dozen battalion groups elsewhere in Donbas. About four million people have already fled for safety in Ukraine and many more are at risk as the war - that started on February 24 - continues. The Ukraine war also puts many poorer nations at risk while developed nations are grappling for fuel supply.