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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday (March 30) claimed that the Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks in the east of the country.
Dismissing Russia’s vows to de-escalate fighting, Zelensky said in a video address to the nation that the Russian troops were regrouping to strike the eastern Donbass region.
Zelensky said, “We don’t believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase. We will not give anything away. We will fight for every meter of our territory.”
After another round of peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday (March 29), a Russian negotiator said Moscow would “radically” scale back its attacks around the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernigiv.
However, reports mentioned that shelling continued during the night. A day after, US military officials said Russian forces did begin to pull out of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power site north of Kyiv.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leader said in his video address that any retreat by Russian forces was “the result of the work of our defenders.”
“Freedom must be armed as well as tyranny,” Zelensky said, claiming that as the centre of the global fight for freedom, Ukraine has the right to demand weapons from the international community, including tanks, planes, artillery systems.
Important to note that the Donbass region encompasses two self-proclaimed “people’s republics” that Russia says it is helping to free from Ukrainian control.
The leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said on Wednesday that offensive operations were intensifying.
Donetsk includes the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has seen some of the war’s heaviest fighting and bombardment and where about 170,000 people are trapped with scarce food and water.
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(With inputs from agencies)
