Russian forces launched nearly 400 strikes in eastern Ukraine on Sunday as part of a campaign of artillery firesaid President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday evening address. “The fiercest battles, as before, are taking place in the Donetsk region. Although there were fewer attacks today due to deteriorating weather conditions, unfortunately the number of Russian bombings remains extremely high,” Zelenskiy said. “In the Luhansk region, we are moving slowly while fighting. To date, there have been almost 400 artillery attacks in the east since the start of the day. Russia moved troops to reinforce its positions in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after withdrawing from Kherson.
The UN nuclear watchdog will conduct an assessment of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on the Monday after the site has been bombed more than a dozen times over the weekend. The blasts damaged buildings and equipment, although none were “critical” to nuclear safety and security, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. Its leader, Rafael Grossi, said the forces behind the bombing were “playing with fire”, adding that “it must stop immediately”.
Germany offered Poland the Patriot missile defense system to help secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed in the country last weeksaid Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht. “We offered Poland support in securing the airspace – with our Eurofighters and with Patriot air defense systems,” Lambrecht told the Rheinische Post and General Anzeiger. Ground-based air defense systems such as Raytheon’s Patriot are designed to intercept incoming missiles.
Ukraine denies its forces executed Russian POWs, arguing that his soldiers were defending themselves against the Russians who were feigning surrender. Ukraine’s parliament’s human rights commissioner reacted on Sunday to videos released this week on Russian social media purporting to show the bodies of Russian servicemen killed after surrendering to Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian mediator Dmytro Lubinets said “excerpts” from a video showed the Russians “using staged capture…committed a war crime by opening fire on Ukrainian armed forces”. This means soldiers “cannot be considered prisoners of war”, he said. A UN spokesman told AFP he was “aware of the videos” and was “reviewing them”.
Negotiating with Russia would be a “capitulation”, said a key adviser to the Ukrainian presidency. Mykhaylo Podolyak said the West’s attempts to urge Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow were “bizarre” given Kyiv’s string of major military victories. He added that this would mean that a country “which recovers its territories must capitulate to the country which loses”. The comments come after recent US media reports that some senior officials were beginning to encourage Ukraine to consider talks.
The first Ukrainian supermarket has opened in Kherson since the city was liberated earlier this month. ATB, a 24/7 store in the city, had queues of people outside on Sunday as it welcomed customers. Kherson remains without electricity, running water or heatingbut residents have found some relief in being able to buy Ukrainian pickled pickles, dumplings, horseradish and other favorites.
France has sent two more air defense systems to Ukraine, as well as two multiple rocket launchers, according to an interview given by a French defense minister.
Emmanuel Macron has accused Russia of feeding disinformation to advance his “predatory project” in Africa, where France experienced military setbacks. In a interview with TV5 Monde on the sidelines of a conference of French-speaking nations in Tunisia, the French president said there was a “predatory project” pushing disinformation in African countries, which was “a political project funded by Russia, sometimes others “. Macron said: “A number of powers, who want to extend their influence in Africa, are doing this to hurt France, to hurt its language, to sow doubt, but above all to pursue certain interests.”