Fierce fighting is still going on in the Donbass. Unfortunately, the number of Russian artillery raids remains high, complains Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. “Hundreds of our cities have practically burned down, thousands of people have been killed, hundreds of thousands have been deported to Russia.”
Since the war began in February, Russia has reportedly fired almost 4,700 rockets at Ukraine, leaving large parts of the country in ruins. “Hundreds of our cities have practically burned down, thousands of people have been killed, hundreds of thousands have been deported to Russia,” said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Both the head of state and the general staff in Kyiv also reported that heavy fighting continued, especially in the Donbass region in the east of the country. Last Tuesday alone, Russia fired almost 100 rockets at Ukraine. “Hundreds of different rockets against our cities, against residential buildings, against companies, against power plants,” said Zelenskyj in a video message to the international organization of Francophonie – an association of French-speaking countries whose representatives met in Djerba, Tunisia.
As a result of these attacks, more than 20 million people were temporarily without power. “Millions of people have left Ukraine to seek protection from the war in other countries,” said Zelenskyy. He asked the member states of Francophonie for help. “Ukraine really wants peace. But to restore peace, we need support.” A return to peace is possible “if everyone in the world understands that nobody in the world deserves a single day of terror.”
The fierce fighting in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine continues, according to Zelenskyy. The area around Donetsk in particular is heavily contested, he said in his daily video speech on Sunday evening. “Although there are fewer attacks due to the worsening weather, unfortunately the number of Russian artillery raids remains high.”
The General Staff in Kyiv had previously reported continued clashes on various front sections in the east of the country. At Luhansk, several Russian advances were fended off, it said. The information could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense in Kyiv has contradicted speculation by Western media and military officials that there could be a pause in fighting on the fronts in winter. “Anyone who talks about a possible ‘pause in hostilities’ because of sub-zero winter temperatures has probably never sunbathed on the southern coast of Crimea in January,” the agency said on Twitter.