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The governor of the Luhansk region today urged people to evacuate, as Vladimir Putin insisted that Moscow would achieve its “noble” goals in Ukraine.
He referred to the expected attack in eastern Ukraine as Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai urged residents to evacuate through humanitarian corridors, writes the British daily ‘The Guardian’.
“It’s better to leave than to be killed in your sleep by a Russian bomb. “Take the main items and go to the transport points,” Gaidai wrote on social media.
Russia has reportedly continued its artillery strike on the Azovstal industrial zone in Mariupol, where the Ukrainian navy was making its last resistance to defend the strategic port. The latter has already turned into rubble after about six weeks of bombing.
Russia is believed to be seeking to take Mariupol to link Crimea to the eastern territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, but the Kiev government insists the city’s defense will continue.
“We are maintaining stable links with the heroic defense units,” Ukraine’s military command said today, adding that Russian forces were attacking the town of Popasna, two hours west of Luhansk, and that they were preparing for the offensive against Kurakhove. near Donetsk.
Zv. Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Kiev was checking unconfirmed information that Russia may have used chemical weapons during the siege of Mariupol, whose mayor says 10,000 civilians have been killed so far.
“There is a theory that chemical weapons may have been used but the information will come later,” Malyar said. Russian and separatist forces in the east have denied using chemical weapons.
Russian troops have withdrawn from the outskirts of the capital in the face of resistance and apparent logistical problems, according to Western analysts, who say they are focusing their offensive eastward.
“Fighting in Ukraine will intensify in the next two to three weeks as Russia refocuses its efforts there,” the British defense ministry said today.
Putin spoke from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Far East
While Putin during a visit to the Russian Far East said that the army “will definitely achieve” its objectives in Ukraine, in the operation aimed at “strengthening the security of Russia.”
The president added that Moscow had no choice but to launch an offensive operation on February 24. “His intentions are clear and noble,” Putin said, adding that the main objective was to save the people in the pro-Russian Donbas region.
“On the one hand we are helping and rescuing people, on the other hand we are taking measures to strengthen the security of Russia itself. “It was clear that we had no other choice, it was the right decision,” he added.
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