Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this Wednesday made a surprise visit to the city of Izyum, recaptured by Kyiv troops over the weekend, and expressed confidence in the expulsion of Russian troops from all Ukrainian territory, although he did not meet the deadline.
“We will return all our lands, including Crimea. I don’t know when, nobody knows. But we have plans, and we will succeed, because this is our land and our people,” Zelensky assured, thanking the Ukrainian military for their courage, who in recent weeks have recaptured more than 8,000 square kilometers of territory from the Russians, most of them in Kharkov region. “People used to look up and see blue skies. Now, looking up, they are looking for only one thing: the Ukrainian flag. This means that our heroes have arrived, and the enemy has fled,” the President said, emphasizing that “perhaps, it is possible to temporarily occupy our territory, but the Ukrainian people cannot be occupied.”
Of the total devastation in the city, which has been occupied by the Russians for almost half a year, Zelenskiy said it was “shocking, but not surprising.” “This does not surprise me, because we have seen it in Bucha and other cities. Buildings destroyed, people killed,” he said, referring to reports of torture and summary executions of civilians by the occupying forces.
After taking virtually all of Kharkiv Oblast last week in a lightning-fast counterattack that devastated Russian forces, Ukrainian troops have moved closer to the border of Luhansk Oblast, taken by the Russians in June, and are also trying to advance in Donetsk Oblast, where heavy fighting is reported in the region. the city of Liman, where pro-Russian forces claim that they managed to stop the advance of Ukraine for some time.
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Putin rejects peace deal
A Kremlin spokesman managed in the early days of the war to negotiate a peace deal with Kyiv that satisfied Russia’s basic demands, including that Ukraine would never be part of NATO, but the deal was rejected by Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported.
“God Against War”
Pope Francis said Wednesday at an interfaith meeting in Kazakhstan that “God is against war,” in a thinly veiled criticism of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supported the invasion of Ukraine and refused to attend the meeting.
