Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on his fellow citizens to do more to support their country's soldiers in the war against the Russian aggressor. While battles are sometimes fought far away at the front, the war and its actors in the rear should not be lost from constant awareness. "The situation at the front is always the focus of our attention," he said yesterday in his video address every evening.
Zelenskyj: Please support our soldiers
"It's wrong and unfair when our soldiers, who come back from the front, have the feeling that the war is already over for many in the rear," Zelensky said. What is meant above all are those who live far away from the combat zones and are "mentally far away from the trenches". Ukraine has been fighting off an invasion by neighboring Russia since February last year.
"Today, like a year ago, one cannot mentally distance oneself from the war, even if the actual battles are geographically far away for many people thanks to our soldiers," Zelenskyy said. "Dear Ukrainians, please support our soldiers whenever you can." Soldiers returning from battle needed all the support they could get from the populace.
Kiev: Series of Russian attacks repelled
According to their own account, the Ukrainian troops fended off around 50 attacks by Russian units on various front sections in the east of the country on Sunday. According to the General Staff in Kiev, the main focus of the attacks was around the towns of Limansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marijinsk. The Russian units suffered heavy losses again. The information could not be independently verified.
The Russian military has been trying for weeks to break through the largely rigid front lines in eastern Ukraine.
Municipal services leave destroyed place
On orders from the Ukrainian army, employees of all municipal services have been forced to leave the small town of Avdiivka in the east of the country, which was destroyed by Russian forces. "Unfortunately, Avdiivka is increasingly turning into a site of post-apocalyptic films," military chief Vitaly Barabash was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian agency Unian on Sunday. Due to the constant attacks, the city had become a lunar landscape.
Therefore, it was decided to evacuate the municipal services employees who had been maintaining the city's viability. "I strongly recommend leaving the city because the Russian rockets and shells spare nothing and nobody," said Barabash.
Avdiivka had around 32,000 inhabitants before the war. The small town is just a few kilometers north of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk. Avdiivka has been the focus of heavy Russian attacks for several days. After the unsuccessful attacks near Bakhmut, the Russian military have now shifted their focus of attack to Avdiivka, according to the Ukrainian account.
Russia: Ukrainian drone explodes in village
According to Russian information, a drone allegedly launched from Ukraine fell and detonated on Sunday almost 200 kilometers south of the capital Moscow. The state news agency Tass reported that three people were injured in the explosion in the village of Kireyevsk near Tula. Significant damage was done to several buildings. This information could not be independently verified.
According to Russian investigators, the drone is a Tu-141 "Strisch" ("Storage Swallow"). The drone, developed in the 1970s, was originally used for reconnaissance, but is said to have been converted into a so-called kamikaze drone by the Ukrainian armed forces.
What is important today
With the launch of a new platform, the federal government wants to strengthen its commitment to the reconstruction of Ukraine. State and private organizations and initiatives should be better networked. The website www.ukraine-wiederaufbauen.de belongs to the platform.
