With Ukraine about to mark its independence from Soviet rule in 1991 and six months since Russian forces invaded, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that any Russian attack on or around the date would prompt a powerful response .
As the war in Ukraine nears its six-month mark, there have been concerns among Ukrainian officials and Western allies that Russia is preparing to attack the capital Kyiv again.
The United States said it believed Russia would target civilian and government infrastructure in the coming days. US citizens should leave Ukraine “now” on their own if it is safe to do so, the US embassy said.
Zelenskyi had warned over the weekend that Moscow might try “something particularly ugly” ahead of Independence Day on Wednesday.
“They’re going to get a response, a powerful response,” he said Tuesday. “I mean every day … that response is going to grow, it’s going to get stronger and stronger.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart in Kyiv on Tuesday. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images)
Fears of escalating Russian attacks followed the killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian ultranationalist, in a car bomb attack near Moscow on Saturday. Moscow blamed the killing on Ukrainian agents, a charge Kyiv denies.
Kyiv has rarely been hit by Russian missiles since Ukraine repelled a ground offensive to seize the capital in March.
The mood in Kyiv was calm on Tuesday, with many people still walking the streets, but signs of a growing threat could be seen.
Authorities told Ukrainians to work from home whenever possible from Tuesday to Thursday, and also urged people to take air raid warnings seriously and seek shelter when sirens sound.
The Kyiv city administration banned large public gatherings until Thursday, fearing that a crowd of celebrating residents could become the target of a Russian missile attack.
Fighting in the south, in the east
Russia sent its troops to the border in what it calls a “special military operation” saying it wanted to demilitarize its neighbor and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Moscow of waging an unjustified, imperial-style war of aggression.
Six months after the Russian invasion, which has killed thousands, forced more than a third of Ukraine’s 41 million people from their homes and destroyed entire cities, the conflict is largely locked in a deadlock
In addition to Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, Russian forces control much of the south, including along the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts, and chunks of the eastern Donbas region. The prospects for peace seem almost non-existent.
“We feel good, confident that victory will be on our side, only on our side, there is no other option,” said Yevhen, a Ukrainian soldier, as his front-line unit fired several shells at Russian positions from ‘a field in Donbas.
Russian airstrikes hit northeastern Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, around dawn on Tuesday, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said. A house was hit but no one was hurt, he said.
In the south, Ukraine’s southern military command said Russian forces pressed strikes on the front of areas they occupy, including multiple rocket attacks on the town of Marhanets across the Dnipro River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant , controlled by Russia. Two civilians were injured and several houses, gas and water lines were damaged, he said.
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He added that Ukrainian rockets and artillery had destroyed an ammunition depot and a command post of a Russian airborne assault regiment in Chernobaevka, in the Russian-held Kherson region, southwest of Zaporizhzhia.
Artillery and rocket fire near the nuclear reactor complex has sparked international calls for the area to be demilitarized.
Crimea platform
Meanwhile, leaders of dozens of countries and international organizations participated in the so-called Crimean Platform — most of them by video — in solidarity with Ukraine on the six-month anniversary of the invasion.
Zelenskyi said Ukraine would restore its rule over the Crimea region.
“To defeat terror, it is necessary to achieve victory in the fight against Russian aggression,” Zelenskiy, dressed in his usual military gear, told delegates at the opening of the forum.
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Explosions as a power station in Crimea
A transformer substation is shown on fire after an explosion in Dzhankoi, a city in Crimea annexed by Russia. Russia called the explosion “sabotage”.
“Crimea must be liberated. This will be the resuscitation of world law and order.”
Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv later that Ukraine would not accept any proposal to freeze the current front lines to “appease” Moscow, which now controls about 22 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea.
He urged the world not to be war-weary, saying it would pose a threat to everyone.
Acting Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told the summit that Rome would continue to support Ukraine. “We stand with you in your struggle to resist Russia’s invasion, restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity, protect your democracy and independence,” he said.
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine needed more weapons from Western supporters to help turn the tide against Russia.
Germany plans to deliver more weapons, including air defense systems, rocket launchers and precision munitions, to Ukraine worth more than 500 million euros (C$645 million) by 2023, a source told Reuters.