As Ukrainian cities came under renewed Russian attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on people around the world to demonstrate on Thursday to mark one month since the start of Russia’s attack on its western neighbor,MIA news agency informs.
“Come from your offices, your homes, your schools and universities. Come in the name of peace, come with Ukrainian symbols to support Ukraine, to support freedom, life. Come to your squares and streets, make yourself visible and heard,” Zelensky said in a video message early Thursday.
“Say that people matter, freedom matters, Ukraine matters,” the president asserted. “Russia started the war against freedom as it is,” Zelensky said, adding that Moscow “is trying to defeat the freedom of all people in Europe, of all people in the world.”
For that reason, Zelensky concluded, “I ask you to stand against the war starting from March 24, exactly one month after the Russian invasion.”
Fighting continued around the besieged city of Izyum, the Ukrainian General Staff said in a daily report posted on Facebook early Thursday. In the eastern Donetsk region, the vast majority of Ukrainian units are under fire, the generals said. In neighboring Luhansk, efforts focused on the cities of Rubizhne, with a population of 60,000, Severodonetsk with a population of 100,000 and Popasna with 20,000 inhabitants, the report said.
Combat operations also continued in the north of the country, Russian artillery fire was reported on the towns of Kalynivka, Horinka, Romanovka and the north-eastern outskirts of Kyiv. Ukrainian forces stopped Russian troops near the Kyiv suburb of Brovary, according to the generals, who said that Russian forces failed to break through Ukrainian defenses to reach the north-western outskirts of the capital Kyiv.
The information cannot be verified independently. Since Russia invaded Ukraine a month ago, 294 civilians, including 15 children, have been killed in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, local police said on Thursday on Telegram.
People were hardly leaving the bunkers where they sought refuge from attacks, and residential buildings, schools, hospitals, utilities and businesses were on fire, they said. Before the war, 1.5 million people lived in Kharkiv. The city has repeatedly been targeted by airstrikes, the Ukrainian army said. Russia is stepping up its airstrikes, with more than 250 flights registered in 24 hours, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said on Thursday morning. This was 60 more flights than the day before, the Ukrainian side said.
The main targets remain the areas in and around Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv.
The Ukrainian army said 11 “enemy air targets” were hit Wednesday, including seven planes, a helicopter, a drone and two cruise missiles. Russian troops in occupied areas such as Kherson are using “terror” tactics against locals protesting against the occupation and deploying units from the Russian national guard to prevent protests, according to the Ukrainian military. The information could not be verified.
