Ukraine: Donbass and Kharkiv under bombs, the East pounded ... the point on the 66th day of fighting

66 days.

It has been more than two months since Russia invaded Ukraine.

From the large-scale war of the beginnings, there remains this Saturday only a localized attack, relating to the south and the east of the country, where the pro-Russian separatist zones are located.

The offensive is no less violent.

Like Mariupol, a city razed to 95%, Putin is pounding, Kharkiv in the lead.

President Zelensky recognizes a "difficult" situation in the Donbass but clings to the Russian disappointments, many according to him.

Kharkiv under bombs

Russian forces maintain their pressure on the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, particularly around Kharkiv in the northeast, where they are trying at all costs to increase their control, despite, according to kyiv, setbacks in the field.

Violent explosions were heard overnight from Friday to Saturday in Kharkiv, the country's second largest city, pounded for weeks by Russian artillery.

Friday, these bombardments made at least one dead and several wounded, according to the regional military administration of Kharkiv.

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East pounded

Further south and east, in the Donbass region, which the Kremlin has set itself the objective of fully recapturing, "the occupiers are doing everything to destroy all life", asserted Volodymyr Zelensky, considering that "the constant bombardments on infrastructure and inhabited areas show that Russia wants to make this area uninhabited” and “turn the Donbass into stones”.

In the Donetsk and Lugansk region, 14 attacks launched by Russian forces have been repelled in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian forces' general staff said on Saturday.

Zelensky clings to setbacks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that the situation where Russian forces refocused their offensive was "difficult".

"But our military is achieving tactical successes," he said, despite statements to the contrary made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

I am grateful to the United States, President Biden and Congress for an analogue of the famous Lend-Lease program, which will be very helpful in the fight against Russia, against the Russian invaders.

Which helped a lot in the fight against the Nazis during World War II. I am sure that now the Lend-Lease will help Ukraine and the whole free world beat the ideological successors of the Nazis, who started a war against us on our land.

Lend-Lease and other programs in support of Ukraine are concrete proof that freedom is still able to defend itself against tyranny.

Posted by Володимир Зеленський on Friday, April 29, 2022

Disappointments also highlighted by the Pentagon.

A source explains that the Russian forces "are far from having made the connection" of the troops entering through the Kharkiv region, north of the Donbass, with those coming from the south of the country, one of the objectives of the Russian army to take in torment the Ukrainian forces.

Which delays Putin's agenda.

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Russia denies: “the special military operation which began on February 24 is continuing according to plan”, he assures in an interview with the official Chinese agency New China published on Saturday.

And, he adds, all his objectives “will be achieved despite the obstruction of our adversaries”.