KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces attacked his hold in the southern Russian city of Kherson on Thursday. As conflicts intensify in the east of the country. The clashes came amid reports that Moscow-appointed officials had left the city and joined tens of thousands of residents who had fled to other Russian-held areas.
Ukrainian forces were besieging Kherson from the west and attacking the Russian foothold on the western bank of the Dnieper River, which separated the region and the country.
as wars Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow has no intention of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, although he has repeatedly warned in the past that he is ready to use all available means, including its nuclear arsenal, to defend Russia.
“We don’t see the need for it,” said Putin. At an international conference of foreign policy experts outside Moscow. “This has no political or military meaning,” he said.
Insisting that he had no intention of attacking Ukraine weeks before the invasion, the Russian leader also sought to set aside the conflict as part of the West’s efforts to secure global sovereignty. He accused the United States and its allies of trying to dictate their terms to other nations in a “dangerous and bloody” game of domination.
Having invaded troops on February 24, Putin described Western support for Ukraine as part of broader efforts by Washington and its allies to implement what they call a rules-based world order that only fuels chaos.
Meanwhile, Russia has warned that Moscow could target Western commercial satellites used for military purposes to support Ukraine, and a State Department spokesperson accused the United States of continuing an “inconsiderate and insane” escalation.
Spokesperson Maria Zakharova argued that Washington should adopt an approach similar to that during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the Cold War superpowers stepped back from the brink of nuclear conflict.
“The more the United States is drawn to support the Kyiv regime on the battlefield, the greater the risk of provoking a direct military conflict between the largest nuclear powers, with disastrous consequences,” said Zakharova.
Ukraine launched an offensive to recapture the Kherson region and its capital of the same name, which Russian forces captured in the ninth month in the first days of the war.
More than 70,000 residents of the Kherson city district have been evacuated in recent days, Vladimir Saldo, the region’s Kremlin-established governor, said on Thursday.
Deputy governor Kirill Stremousov said members of the Russian-backed regional government also fled. Monuments to Russian heroes were moved along with the remains of the Russian general Grigory Potemkin. Who founded Kherson in the 18th century. The ruins of the city of St. Catherine’s Church.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described reports of the possible withdrawal of Russian troops from the city as disinformation.
“I don’t see them running from Kherson,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. “It’s an information attack, so we’re going there, transferring troops from other dangerous directions.”
Zelenskyy also described recent attempts by Kremlin-backed local officials to persuade the city’s civilian residents to settle deeper into Russian-held territory before the Ukrainian advance was “theatre.”
“The most trained soldiers are in position. We see that and we don’t believe them,” said Zelenskyy.
In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces continued to bombard the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, making slow progress towards the centre.
Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy head of the Russian delegation at the UN arms control panel, described the use of US and other Western commercial satellites for military purposes during the war as “extremely dangerous”.
“Civil infrastructure could be a legitimate target for a retaliatory attack,” Vorontsov warned.
Like all month long, Russian forces have launched attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, adding to pre-winter concerns.
Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said earlier on Thursday that a Russian drone struck a power plant near Kiev’s capital, causing a fire. He said the recent attacks had done “very serious damage”.
Kuleba announced new cuts and urged consumers to save energy. He said authorities are still considering how to restore the service.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, vice-president of the Ukrainian presidential office, said that power cuts will also be implemented in neighboring Chernihiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions.
Zelenskyy said the Russian attacks have already destroyed 30% of the country’s energy infrastructure.
In a possible response to Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, a drone attacked a power station just outside Sevastopol, a port in Russia’s annexed Crimea region. According to city leader Mikhail Razvozhayev, minor damage was done to the plant. He said the electricity was uninterrupted.
Crimea was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014. It faced drone attacks and explosions during the conflict in Ukraine. In a major setback for the Kremlin, a powerful truck bomb blew up part of a strategic bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Russia on 8 October.
A senior Ukrainian military official accused Russia of plotting explosions at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and blamed Ukraine for the false flag attack.
The chief of staff of the Ukrainian army, General Oleksii Gromov, pointed to Moscow’s repeated unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine was planning to detonate a contaminated radioactive bomb as a possible sign that Moscow is planning explosions at Europe’s largest factory. nuclear power station.
Russia took control of the Zaporizhzhia factory in the first days of the occupation. Russia and Ukraine accused each other of attacking the plant, whose reactors were shut down after continued shelling.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian officials reported that another mass grave had been found in the area recently retaken from Russia. Inside were the bodies of 17 soldiers and civilians.
Police found the tomb outside the city of Izium after being tipped off by local residents, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement.
The statement said locals said that Russian troops dumped the bodies in a pit outside the nearby village of Kopanky in mid-April and then leveled the ground with tanks.
In other developments, Ukrainian officials said they are opening criminal proceedings against Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, accusing him of facilitating the abduction and forced adoption of thousands of vulnerable Ukrainian children.
Maria Lvova-Belova said this week that she herself adopted a child captured by the Russian army in the bombed city of Mariupol.
Last month, it was sanctioned by the US, UK and other Western countries over allegations that it planned the removal of more than 2,000 vulnerable children from the embattled Donetsk and Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine. According to Ukraine, it has organized a new policy to facilitate their forced resettlement to “foster families” in Russia.
Zelenskyy ended the day on an emotional note, noting that in his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine celebrates the anniversary of its liberation from the Nazis in World War II on Friday. He said that this year the holiday has a special significance.
“Evil always ends the same way. The invader surrenders, and the invader becomes a fugitive. War criminals become suspects. Aggression becomes a court decision. Destruction turns into compensation. Enemy equipment becomes museum exhibits,” said Zelenskyy.
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