Russia’s offensive in Ukraine is just the beginning, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday, as he called for nations to come together against the Kremlin and put an end to its ambitions to expand. Meanwhile, as the war is set to complete two months, Moscow has revealed that it now wants to capture south Ukraine too apart from the east. With a ceasefire not in sight, UN chief Antonio Guterres will next week visit the two countries and meet their presidents.
Here are ten points on the Ukraine war:
1. “All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us. They must help us, because we are the first in line. And who will come next?” Zelensky warned in his nightly address.
2. Rustam Minnekayev , a Russian general, was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters that Moscow wants to “seize all of southern and eastern Ukraine”, far wider war aims than it had acknowledged as it presses on with a new offensive. The Kremlin was aiming to capture the rebel-held eastern Donbas region, link up with the Crimea peninsula, and capture Ukraine’s entire south as far as a breakaway, Russian-occupied region of Moldova, he said.
3. “Control over the south of Ukraine is another way to Transdniestria, where there is also evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed,” TASS quoted Minnekayev as saying at a meeting in Russia’s central Sverdlovsk region.
4. The diplomatic efforts to end the war remained stalled even, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said, even as both sides held talks.
5. Ukraine is hoping for a possibility that the humanitarian corridor in Mariupol could be opened on Saturday.
6. Next week, UN chief Antonio Guterres will meet with the Zelensky in Ukraine after a stop in Moscow to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin about the war. More than 20 countries are set to attend the US-hosted talks next week on Ukraine in Germany.
7. Even though the UK PM Boris Johnson on Friday said the war may not end soo, Ukraine PM Denys Shmyhal told CNN in an interview: “We are absolutely sure that Ukraine will win in this war and victory will be in (a) very short period.”
8. As the Russian forces continue to roll in in the eastern Donetsk region, three civilians were killed and seven were injured in shelling, an official was quoted as saying by news agency AP.
9. Satellite imagery has hinted at possible mass graves near Mariupol, the city that has been battered in eight weeks of war.
10. Russia has admitted the Moskva losses a week after fire on the flagship in the Black sea. Ine serviceman died, 27 more went missing and 396 were rescued, AP quoted the Defence Ministry as saying.
(With inputs from AP, Reuters, AFP)
