Kyiv, March 7. Ukrainian President Volodímir Zelenski assured that the Russians “kill our citizens for the simple fact of being Ukrainians” and announced that the country’s army would not abandon any attacked region.
In his daily video message, posted this evening on the official website of the presidency, Zelenski reported on the meeting he had with the army general staff on Monday.
“We reviewed the situation in the operational directions (from the front), at each key point of hostilities (with the Russians)”, explained the president.
“The commander-in-chief, commanders and intelligence services delivered their (respective) reports. There was a special report on the situation in Bakhmut and around the city, and a conversation of more than an hour. In fact, it was Bakhmut’s theme that became the main theme of this meeting,” Zelensky said.
The town of Bakhmut, located in the east of the country, is the epicenter of the clashes that Ukrainians and Russians have been experiencing for months.
The city, which initially had around 70,000 inhabitants, now has less than 5,000 inhabitants and is virtually destroyed, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Bakhmut is an important communication center in the Donbass region, which aspires to control Moscow, so its fall would mean a significant triumph for the Kremlin army.
Zelenski said that during Monday’s meeting he asked the generals “directly” “for their opinion on the additional defense operation in the Bakhmut sector: either withdraw or maintain the defense and reinforcement of the city.”
And the generals replied: “Do not retreat and do not reinforce. And this opinion was unanimously supported by the General Staff. There were no other points of view,” the leader said.
Zelensky then ordered the Commander-in-Chief of the General Staff to find suitable forces to help the city’s soldiers fight the private Wagner Group, the assault force linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which is leading the Russian offensive.
“No part of Ukraine can be considered abandoned. There is no Ukrainian trench in which the resilience and heroism of our warriors are ignored,” the Ukrainian president added.
“The occupier kills for the simple fact that we are Ukrainians. For the simple word about Ukraine. For our dream of Ukraine. For our lives, the lives of Ukrainians,” he repeated.
In his speech, he also indicated that he would continue to “defend every part of Ukraine. When the time comes, we will liberate all the towns and villages of our country. And we will hold the occupier responsible for every shot against Ukraine, for every wrongdoing. against the Ukrainians.”
“If we can do it legally,” he warned, “then we will do it legally. If we can do it with guns, then we will do it with guns.”
Because of our unity, because of our determination, because of the fact that we value all of Ukraine and every Ukrainian, we know exactly the outcome of this war. EFE
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