Powerful explosions rocked cities in the south and east of Ukraine on Monday as Ukrainian forces prepared for a new Russian offensive, and Austria’s leader planned to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and seek an end to the conflict.
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Ukraine awoke to the sound of air raid sirens on Monday morning.
“Russia will be even more afraid. It will be afraid to lose. It will fear that the truth will have to be acknowledged,” Zelenskyy said in a late night video address.
“Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state. They may use even more missiles against us, even more air bombs. But we are preparing for their actions. We will answer.”
“It is likely that the enemy, in order to disrupt the supply of goods to the places of hostilities, will continue to strike at transport infrastructure facilities in Ukraine in order to destroy or disable them,” according to the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Continuing their offensive to gain total control over the southern city of Mariupol, Russian forces attempted to storm an iron and steel plant and take control of the port, the report stated.
According to the general staff, Russia may also engage in provocations in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova in order to accuse Ukraine of aggression against a neighboring state with no proof.
Likewise, Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, said that Russian “informants” had targeted the infrastructure of food warehouses, but did not provide evidence to support his claim.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has stated that he expects to meet Putin in Moscow on Monday. It will be Putin’s first face-to-face meeting with a European Union colleague since Russia’s invasion began on February 24.
“We are militarily neutral, but (have) a clear position on the Russian war of aggression against #Ukraine,” Nehammer wrote of Austria on Twitter. “It must stop! It needs humanitarian corridors, ceasefire & full investigation of war crimes.”
Explosions were heard in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, near the Black Sea in the southern part of the country, Ukrainian media reported on Sunday. Russia’s defence ministry said high-precision missiles had destroyed the headquarters of Ukraine’s Dnipro battalion in the town of Zvonetsky.
Zelenskyy has requested more defense assistance and punitive sanctions against Russia since Moscow invaded. He has also urged Western powers to impose embargoes on its energy exports.
On Twitter, Zelenskyy stated that he had spoken to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about additional sanctions, as well as more defense and financial assistance in support of his country. During his meeting with Ukrainian officials, Zeleniskyy discussed Kyiv’s proposals for a new package of EU sanctions, the Ukrainian government said.
According to the EU, coal imports from Russia were banned on Friday, but oil and gas imports from Russia have not been affected.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK