"I am convinced that at the end of this war, Ukraine too will have a new celebration" like April 25 in Italy.
"We already have our independence day on August 24 but I hope we will have another holiday, the day of victory over 'rashists' (a word that unites Russia and fascists)."
This was stated by the mayor of Kramatorsk, Oleksandr Honcharenko, in an interview with ANSA.
"I would also like to thank the Italian people for their support, as part of the EU and individually. Without Western weapons it would be impossible for us to win over the Russians in this war," he added.
"The armed forces have been defending and holding Bakhmut since last September, so over six months. We hope they will stop the Russians there because the presidency, and we too as an administration, are aware that after the next cities would be Kostantinovka, Chasiv Yar, Druzivka and then Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. To avoid this possibility, they must continue to do their job. Unfortunately, it costs us many soldiers' lives".
This was stated by Honcharenko.
"Of course, we know that Russia has not abandoned its plans to take all of Donetsk's territories and we know how difficult the battle is in Bakhmut," he said.
"That's why we are constantly asking our citizens and displaced people not to return to the city, because our army is not able to protect with high percentage assurance from missiles like S-300," he added, noting that at the moment there are around 80,000 people present.
"The line is too close to the city, so we ask people not to come back" and "I also want to underline that the government evacuation program is working", he concluded.