Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of wanting to destroy “every city” in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region. However, the Ukrainian military is doing everything “to stop the attacks of the occupiers”. According to a presidential aide, around 10,000 Ukrainian army soldiers have been killed since the Russian invasion in February.
“Russia wants to devastate every city in Donbass, every single one, without exaggeration. Like Volnovakha, like Mariupol,” Zelensky said in his video address on Friday evening, referring to two war-torn cities in southern Donbass. Fierce fighting continued on Friday, particularly in eastern Donbass, particularly in the embattled town of Sievarodonetsk in the Luhansk region. According to Governor Serhiy Hajday, the Russians destroyed an important sports hall in the city on Friday: “One of the landmarks of Sieverodonetsk was destroyed. The Ice Palace burned down,” he explained.
In the southern region of Cherson, the Ukrainian army says it has meanwhile attacked Russian military positions. The Air Force has flown attacks on equipment and personnel locations and field depots near five towns in the region, the General Staff said.
The Kherson region has been almost completely controlled by Russian troops since the early days of the Russian invasion. Kyiv fears that Moscow might soon hold a referendum on annexation to Russia along the lines of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Ukraine has launched an offensive to retake the territory. The military situation there remains “tense,” the Ukrainian presidential office said.
About 10,000 soldiers of the Ukrainian army have been killed since the Russian invasion in February, according to Presidential Trust Oleksiy Arestovych. The number fell on Friday in one of Arestovychx’s regular YouTube video interviews with Russian opposition figure Mark Feygin.
Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said this week that up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are currently being killed every day. Arestovych also said that around 100 military personnel were dying a day on the Ukrainian side, even at the beginning of the war. When Feygin asked if one might assume that around 10,000 soldiers were killed in total, he replied: “Yes, roughly”.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia have so far provided exhaustive information on the casualties in the war that began on February 24. According to Arestovych, more Russian than Ukrainian soldiers are constantly being killed. On Friday, the Ukrainian artillery attacks with Western ammunition were particularly efficient, he said, citing the estimate of around 600 Russian soldiers killed.
In view of this, the Zelenskyj adviser appealed to the West to deliver arms and ammunition much more quickly. The Ukrainian government is very grateful for the help so far, without which it would probably have been pushed back behind the Dnieper River. But he doesn’t understand the slowness of the deliveries. In order to beat back Russian aggression, Ukraine needs, among other things, more artillery firepower, stressed Arestovytch. As expected by military experts, artillery plays a larger role in the embattled eastern Ukraine than in the repulsed Russian advance towards the capital Kyiv.
