Troop visit in eastern Ukraine: Zelenskyj visits the front in Luhansk

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visited the troops on the front line near Zaporizhia. The situation in Seyerodonetsk is unclear: According to British reports, the Ukrainian army is launching a counterattack.

At a crucial stage in the fighting in Donbass, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the region in the east of the country. According to the Presidential Office, Zelenskyy inspected command posts and positions on the front in the city of Lysychansk on Sunday, which is separated from the currently hard-fought city of Sierodonetsk by the Siverskyi Donets river.

In a statement, the president said he wanted to thank the troops for their great work and service in protecting everyone in Ukraine and the country itself. Selenskyj held a minute’s silence on site. Videos of the visits released by the President’s Office show Zelenskyy talking to soldiers in bunker-like buildings and receiving awards. “You all deserved the win – that’s the most important thing. But not at any price,” says Zelenskyj in one of the videos. A week ago, Selenskyj had already paid a similar visit to the Kharkiv region in the north-east of the country, which was also contested.

British report counter-attack in Sieverodonetsk

Sieverodonetsk is the last major city in the Luhansk region that Russia has not yet conquered. The declared goal of the Russian armed forces is to take over the entire Donbass region, which also includes the Donetsk region. The British Ministry of Defense reports a counter-offensive by the Ukrainian army. In doing so, they would have probably weakened the operational momentum that the Russian armed forces had previously gained by concentrating their units and firepower, sources in London said.

The British Ministry of Defense announced that the Russian soldiers deployed in the battle for Sievjerodonetsk were, among other things, reserves of the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic”. These troops are poorly equipped and trained, lacking heavy equipment compared to regular units. The governor of the Luhansk region also said that Ukrainian forces had pushed back Russian fighters and regained control of about half of the city.

Conflicting information about shelling in Kyiv

Heavy bombardments were reported from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The Ukrainian side said it was the heaviest shelling in weeks. The military leadership in Kyiv announced that military and civilian infrastructure had been hit.

The Russian side claims to have destroyed several T-72 tanks and other military equipment that had been shipped to Ukraine from Eastern Europe and were housed at a railway carriage repair plant on the outskirts of Kyiv. Kiev’s rail boss disagreed. Although four rockets landed, there were no tanks there. The Ukrainian representation resembles the impressions of the ARD-Correspondent Robert Kempe, who was able to get an idea on site. According to his assessment, it was not tanks that were destroyed there, but freight cars.

Klitschko reports explosions

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions on his Telegram channel. According to the current status, there is one injured person who is being treated in the hospital, but no deaths, said Klitschko. The districts of Darnyzja in the southeast and Dnipro in the west of the metropolis were then affected. An advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said that railway facilities were also hit. According to the authorities, the Brovary suburb, which has already been shelled several times, was hit again.

People posted pictures and videos of fires and clouds of smoke on social networks. Impact noises were also heard. In the morning there had been a long air alert. It was the heaviest attack on the capital region in weeks.

Putin threatens new attacks

In an interview, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to attack new targets in Ukraine if the US began supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles. “If they deliver, then we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our means of destruction, of which we have enough, to inflict blows on those objects that we have not yet attacked,” Putin told the state television channel Rossiya 1.

The aim of the western arms deliveries is to prolong the conflict in Ukraine as much as possible, said the Kremlin chief. On the other hand, he was relaxed about the delivery of state-of-the-art Himars multiple rocket launchers announced by the USA: The Ukrainian armed forces are already using such systems made by Russia, and the US deliveries would rather replace destroyed weapons. Nevertheless, it is crucial here which missiles would be used. Russian air defenses, Putin said, have now destroyed most of the combat drones in Ukraine.