Russia focusing on the Donbass region of Ukraine; US President’s visit to Poland; Latest Ukraine News
Ukraine Russia war latest news in Ukraine: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zhelensky has said his country’s forces have “shown strong opposition to the enemy,” insisting that Russia has shifted its focus to eastern Ukraine after completing the first phase of the invasion.
Meanwhile, the United States says Ukrainian troops have regained control of parts of the port city of Gershon. “Kerson is a war zone again,” said a senior U.S. defense official, according to The New York Times. This could be a major setback for Russia.
On Friday, Reuters reported that Russia was cutting its ambitions in Ukraine and was now focusing on territory claimed by pro-Russian separatists in the east. The Russian Defense Ministry said the first phase of its operation was nearing completion and was now focusing on the Donbass region on the Russian border.
“The combat capability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been significantly reduced, enabling us to focus our key efforts on achieving the liberation of Donbass,” Sergei Rutskoy, head of the Directorate General Operations of the Russian Public Service, told Reuters.
The AP says Ukrainian President Vladimir Zhelensky has once again called on Russia to end the war, but insisted that Ukraine was not ready to give up any of its territory for peace.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and deputy chairman of the Security Council, said on Friday that Western sanctions were not enough to have any effect on the Russian government. In an interview with Russia’s RIA news agency, Medvedev said that sanctions would unite Russian society and not cause public dissatisfaction with the authorities.
At least 300 people have been killed in a Russian bomb blast near the port city of Mariupol last week, according to Ukrainian officials. Thus, since the Russian occupation of Ukraine in February, this incident has become the only deadly attack.
US President visits Poland
US President Joe Biden has met with Ukrainian foreign and defense ministers at the Marriott Hotel in central Warsaw during his first talks with top Ukrainian officials since the start of the Russian invasion, the news agency AFP reported. Biden is due to address a rally in Warsaw on Saturday afternoon, calling on the “independent world” to oppose Russia’s occupation of Ukraine. The White House says he will argue in a speech that there is unity among the major economies on the need to stop Vladimir Putin.
15 years imprisonment for publishing fake information – Russia
On Friday, Putin signed a bill that would impose a 15-year prison sentence for publishing “fake” information about Russia’s activities abroad. The AFP says the new bill expands on the basis of legislation passed earlier this year, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for publishing false information about the Russian military.
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The law was passed after the occupation of Ukraine. Interfax quoted a senior lawmaker as saying the new law was needed because people were spreading misinformation about Russia’s embassies and other organizations operating abroad. (Reuters)
Ukraine reports 136 children killed in Russia war
In the 31 days since the Russian invasion, 136 children have been killed in the war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Attorney General’s Office said in a statement on Saturday in a telegram.
In total, 64 children were killed in the Kiev region, the office said. Another 50 children have died in the Donetsk region. A further 199 children were injured.
The Mariupol city government says the Kremlin’s main political party has opened a party office in a business complex in Mariupol.
Russia is reportedly conducting military exercises on disputed islands with Japan
Japanese media reported on Saturday that Russia was conducting exercises in the islands claimed by Japan, and that Russia had suspended peace talks due to sanctions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s eastern military district is conducting military exercises with more than 3,000 troops and hundreds of military equipment on the Kuril Islands, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Friday.
It did not say where the exercises would take place on the island chain, which connects Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula with Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido. Japanese media reported that they were in the territory claimed by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
Approval of 10 humanitarian routes
Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vareshchuk said an agreement had been reached on Saturday to set up 10 humanitarian routes to evacuate civilians from Ukrainian cities and border areas.
Call to increase energy production
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zhelensky on Saturday called on developing countries to use their oil and gas resources to “intimidate” other countries.
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