Ukraine celebrates Independence Day on August 24. “Russia may try to do something particularly bad, something particularly vicious,” stressed the Ukrainian president
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukrainians to be cautious ahead of celebrations on Wednesday of the country’s 31st anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union.
“We have to fight for the victory of Ukraine, a lot remains to be done, we have to remain firm and endure a lot, unfortunately a lot of pain,” Zelensky said in his daily evening address yesterday Saturday.
Ukraine celebrates Independence Day on August 24when six months have passed since the Russian invasion of the country.
Zelenksi warned that Russian forces might take advantage of the event to launch particularly violent attacks.
“We should all be aware that this week Russia may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly vicious”the Ukrainian president underlined.
“So is our enemy. Already every other week for half a year Russia is doing something despicable and horrible,” he added.
The curfew in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, will be in place all day Wednesday, regional governor Oleh Sinehub said. Usually in the city – a frequent target of Russian bombings – a curfew applies from 10 at night to 6 in the morning.
In his speech, Zelensky indirectly referred to the series of explosions that have occurred in recent days in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for them, but analysts believe that at least some of them were made possible by new equipment acquired by Ukrainian forces.
“You really feel Crimea in the air this year, (you feel) that the occupation there is only temporary and that Ukraine is coming back,” Zelensky stressed.
Also yesterday, a Russian missile struck a residential area in a southern Ukrainian city not far from a nuclear power plant, injuring 14 civilians, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.
The strike near the Pyvdenukrainsk nuclear power plant and new bombings near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, raise concerns about an accident, Ukrainian officials said.
Houses and a five-story apartment building were damaged in Voznesensk, about 30 kilometers from Pivdenukrainsk station, Ukraine’s second largest, and four children were among the injured, according to Mykolayiv Oblast Governor Vitaly Kim.
The attack on Voznesensk “is yet another act of Russian nuclear terrorism,” Ukrainian state agency Energoatom, which manages Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants, said.
“It is possible that this missile specifically targeted the Pivdenukrainsk station, which the Russian military tried to capture in early March,” he added.
At the same time, Russia and Ukraine again exchanged accusations regarding the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, which has been under the control of Russian forces since March.
Vladimir Rogov, a Moscow-appointed official in the nearby town of Enerhodar, said Ukrainian forces fired at least four strikes against the station.
For his part, Yevgeny Getushenko, the mayor of Nikopol, which remains under Ukrainian control, said Russian forces had repeatedly shelled the city, located about 50 kilometers southwest of Zaporizhia.
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