Amid the ongoing crisis, NATO’s chief warned that the war in Ukraine could last “for years” as President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Sunday that his forces would not give up the south of the country to Russia after his first visit to the frontline there.
Mr. Zelensky, after making a trip to the Black Sea-city of Mykolaiv and the Odessa region on Saturday, said, “We will not give away the south to anyone, we will return everything that’s ours and the sea will be Ukrainian and safe.”
In a rare trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 18 paid a visit to war-damaged southern city of Mykolaiv for the first time since the Russian invasion. As per the video released by Mr. Zelensky’s office, the President can be seen looking at a badly damaged high-rise residential building in the city and holding a meeting with local officials.
Kyiv
Russia to ‘intensify’ fighting, Zelensky warns as EU decision looms
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was likely to intensify its “hostile activity” this week, as Kyiv awaits a historic decision from the European Union on its membership application.
Nearly three months after Russia launched a bloody invasion of his country, Mr. Zelensky said there had been “few such fateful decisions for Ukraine” as the one it expects from the EU this week.
“Only a positive decision is in the interests of the whole of Europe,” the President said in his evening address on Sunday.
“Obviously, we expect Russia to intensify hostile activity this week … We are preparing. We are ready,” Mr. Zelensky continued.- AP
Kyiv
Zelenskyy Father’s Day post spotlights family ties amid war
In an uplifting Father’s Day message on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted 10 photos of parents and children set against the grim backdrop of war, praising fathers who “protect and defend the most precious.” There are scenes of childbirth, as a man and woman look toward a swaddled baby in what appears to be a hospital room where the spackled walls show scars of fighting. In another, a man lifts a child over a fence toward a woman with outstretched arms on a train platform.
“Being a father is a great responsibility and a great happiness,” Mr. Zelensky wrote in English text that followed the Ukrainian on Instagram. “It is strength, wisdom, motivation to go forward and not to give up.” He urged his nation’s fighters to endure for the “future of your family, your children, and therefore the whole of Ukraine.” The President’s message came as four months of war in Ukraine appear to be straining the morale of troops on both sides, prompting desertions and rebellion against officers’ orders.
