Latest news on the crisis between Ukraine and Russia:
An adviser to the Ukrainian president says fighting is heavy in the capital, Kiev, and in the country’s south, and the military is pushing back Russian attacks.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Saturday that small groups of Russian soldiers tried to infiltrate Kiev and started confrontations with local troops. As he pointed out, Moscow wants to take control of the capital and destroy the national leadership, but he pointed out that the Kremlin’s troops have failed to advance and that the Kiev troops control the situation in the city.
Podolyak noted that Russian forces were also focusing on the south of the country, with heavy fighting in Kherson, just north of Crimea; in the ports of Mykolaiv and Odessa, on the Black Sea, and around Mariupol.
According to the adviser, Russia considers taking the south a priority, but has not made significant progress.
“Ukraine has not just resisted. Ukraine is winning,” Podolyak told a news conference.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again assures that the country’s army will stand up to the Russian invasion.
In a video recorded on a street in central Kiev, Zelenskyy said he has not left the city and denied claims that Ukrainian soldiers would lay down their arms.
“We will protect the country,” he said. “Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is our land, our country, our children. And we will defend it.”