the ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky announced the start of the Russian offensive against eastern Ukraine, a region partly in the hands of pro-Russian separatists and where fighting intensified.
“Now we can say that the Russian troops have started the battle for Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time. A large part of the entire Russian army is now engaged in this offensive,” Zelensky said in a speech broadcast on Telegram. .
“No matter how many Russian soldiers are brought here, we will fight. We will defend ourselves,” he said.
Shortly before, the Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region, Serguei Gaidai, also announced the start of the Russian offensive against eastern Ukraine.
“This is hell. The offensive we’ve been talking about for weeks has started,” he said on Facebook. “There is fighting in Rubizhne and Popasna, incessant fighting in other peaceful towns,” she said.
At least eight civilians were killed Monday by Russian gunfire and attacks, according to regional authorities.
Four people were killed in Kreminna, a small town in the Luhansk region that fell to the Russians on Monday, Gaidai said on Telegram.
And four more in the nearby Donetsk region, according to the Ukrainian governor of that region, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
“Two in Torske, one in Chandrigalove and one in Razdolne. Five other people were injured,” he said on Telegram.
Since Russia announced the withdrawal of its troops from the kyiv region, it has concentrated its armed forces in eastern Ukraine, which has been under frequent bombardment since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.
The Ukrainian military announced several weeks ago a major Moscow offensive against the Donbas region, much of which is under the control of pro-Russian separatists from the self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is conducting a military operation in Ukraine to save Russians in Donbas from “genocide” orchestrated by Ukrainian “neo-Nazis.”