Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Russia resumed its offensive in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, after the Polish president traveled to Kiev to support the country’s aspirations for a European Union and became the first foreign leader to address Ukraine’s parliament since the start of the war.
Delegates stood up to applaud President Andrzej Duda, who thanked them for the honor of speaking “the heartbeat of a free, independent and democratic Ukraine”. Duda applauded even more when he said that in order to end the conflict, Ukraine no longer needed to abide by the conditions set by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Unfortunately, there have been disturbing voices in Europe lately demanding that Ukraine surrender to Putin’s demands,” he said. “I want to be clear: only Ukraine has the right to decide its future. Only Ukraine has the right to decide on its own. ”
Duda’s second visit to Kiev since April came as Russian and Ukrainian troops battled a 551-kilometer (342 mi) wedge in the country’s eastern industrial center.
After declaring full control of a vast coastal steelworks, the last defensive stronghold in the port city of Mariupol, Russia launched artillery and rocket attacks on the area known as the Donbass, aimed at expanding territory held by Moscow-backed separatists. since 2014.
To strengthen its defence, Ukraine’s parliament voted on Sunday to extend the martial law and mobilize the armed forces for a third time by August 23.
Russia’s ambassador to Poland on Monday during World War II in Warsaw.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that the countries of the 27 EU members should accelerate their demand to join the bloc as soon as possible due to aggression. Ukraine’s potential candidacy will be discussed at the Brussels summit at the end of June.
France’s Minister for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, told Radio J on Sunday that it would be “a long time” for Ukraine to gain EU membership, with estimates taking up to twenty years.
“We have to be honest,” he said. “If you say that Ukraine will join the EU in six months, a year or two, you are lying.”
But Poland is stepping up its efforts to make other EU members more hesitant to accept the war-torn country in the bloc. Zelenskiy said Duda’s visit represented a “historic alliance” between Ukraine, which declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and Poland, which ended communist rule two years ago.
“This is truly a historic opportunity to not lose a strong blood-based relationship, not to lose Russia’s aggression,” Zelensky said. “All this is not about losing our state, not about losing our people.”
Poland has attracted millions of Ukrainian refugees and has become the gateway for Western humanitarian aid and weapons into Ukraine. It was also a transit point in Ukraine for many foreign fighters, including Belarusians who volunteered to fight Russian forces.
“Despite the terrible crimes and extreme suffering that the Ukrainian people are subjected to every day, despite the great destruction, the Russian invaders did not destroy you. Here they failed. And I firmly believe that they will never succeed, ”Duda told the Verkhovna Rada, the legislature of Ukraine.
Duda also paid tribute to the United States and President Joe Biden for the West’s solidarity in supporting Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Moscow.
“Kyiv is a place in Europe that clearly shows that we need America more, both militarily and economically,” said Duda, a right-wing populist leader who openly supports former President Donald Trump. . 2020. elections.
Joe Biden describes the conservative governments of NATO allies Poland and Hungary as “totalitarian regimes” https://t.co/WrJs7nQ5yT
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On the battlefield, Russia’s progress in the Donbas seems slow in recent days. He stepped up efforts to capture Severodonetsk, the main Ukrainian-controlled city in the Luhansk region, which together with the Donetsk region formed Donbass. On Sunday, the Ukrainian army said Russian forces launched an unsuccessful attack on Oleksandrivka, a village near Severodonetsk.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Sergei Gaidai, said that there are only three doctors in the city’s only operating room hospital and that within 10 days there will be enough medicine.
Russia also said in a general staff report released this morning that it is preparing to continue its offensive against Slovyansk, a city in the Donetsk region that criticizes Russia’s bid to invade all of eastern Ukraine and has experienced intense fighting after Moscow last month. forces withdrew from Kiev. .
In the Russian-controlled city of Energodar, 281 kilometers (174 mi) northwest of Mariupol, a Moscow-appointed mayor was injured in an explosion at his home on Sunday, Ukrainian and Russian news agencies reported. Ukrainian news agency Unian reported that a bomb planted by “local partisans” injured 48-year-old Andriy Shevchuk, whose home is located near the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest and where many Energodartsy work.
‘Russia is losing momentum’ in ‘brutal’ occupation of Ukraine: NATO https://t.co/sNRZaMAy9J
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Concerns have risen over the fate and future of the now devastated residents of the city, where more than 20,000 people are believed to have been killed, after Russia said it had taken nearly 2,500 Ukrainian fighters hostage from the Mariupol steelworks.
Relatives of the militants tried to give them the rights of prisoners of war and eventually returned to Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said on Saturday that each of Ukraine will “fight for their return”.
Complete acquisition of Azovstal steelworks, the Ukrainian symbol of perseverance. It gave Putin the hoped-for victory in a war he launched almost three months ago on February 24.
Denis Pushilin, the pro-Kremlin leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, vowed to confront the Ukrainian militants on trial at the factory. He said that there were foreigners among them, but did not give details.
The Ukrainian government did not comment on Russia’s statement on the acquisition of Azovstal. The Ukrainian military told the militants that their mission was over and they could leave. Their evacuation was defined as an evacuation, not a mass surrender.
Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko warned that the city is facing a “health disaster” due to the failure of sewer systems, as well as mass graves in the shallow pit. It is estimated that 100,000 of the 450,000 people who lived in Mariupol before the war remained.
With Russia in control of the city, Ukrainian authorities will delay in documenting alleged Russian atrocities, including bombings at a maternity hospital and a theater where hundreds of civilians are hiding.
Meanwhile, on Monday, a Ukrainian court was to convict the first-ever Russian soldier tried in war crimes trials. A 21-year-old sergeant who admitted to shooting a Ukrainian in the head in a village in the northeastern Sumy region on February 28 could face a life sentence if found guilty.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Irina Venicetova said her office was investigating war crimes against 41 Russian soldiers, including bombing of civilian infrastructure, killing of civilians, rape and theft. His office said it was investigating more than 10,700 potential war crimes involving more than 600 suspects, including Russian soldiers and government officials.
Global food crisis: Putin accused of using “hunger as a weapon” at G7 summit https://t.co/tpHboP8R7x
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Bekatoros report from Donetsk. Associated Press reporters Yuriy Karmanov from Lvov, Andrea Rosa from Kharkiv and other AP staff from around the world contributed.
Source: Breitbart
