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On day 397 of the large-scale war in Ukraine, President Volodimir Zelenski made a surprise visit on Monday to the troops deployed on the southern front, in the province of Zaporizhia.
“I am grateful to each of our warriors for defending Ukraine, our sovereignty, our cities and our children.
Definitely, we are going to win ”, he stated.
Zelenski has taken advantage of his visit to meet with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.
As confirmed by Grossi himself on his official Twitter profile, the meeting with Zelensky has been "enriching" and has served to reiterate to Ukraine "the full support" of the IAEA for the country's nuclear facilities, such as the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, in constant dispute with Russia since the outbreak of the war.
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Ukrainian War: Day 398
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Zelensky's visit to the southern front comes a few days after the president was on the eastern front, in the besieged city of Bakhmut (Donetsk), where Ukrainian troops have held out for weeks despite dominating only the western flank of the city.
In fact, the high commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Oleksandr Sirskyi, has affirmed today that his troops continue to repel heavy Russian attacks in this town, whose defense is a "military necessity".
The Kremlin on Monday dismissed Western criticism, saying Western countries' reaction to Russian plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus will have no effect.
"This reaction, of course, cannot change Russia's plans," stressed the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov.
China, for its part, has called for "diplomatic efforts" for a peaceful resolution of the war.
"In the current situation, all parties must collaborate to de-escalate the situation," said the spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning.
She recalled that, at the beginning of 2022, "the five countries with nuclear weapons published a joint statement on the prevention of nuclear war."
One year after the Russian invasion, the estimated losses in Ukrainian infrastructure amount to around 133,000 million euros (which would be equivalent to half of the General Budget of Spain in 2023).
The hardest-hit areas are Kharkov and Donetsk, and 40% of the damage is to homes.
Russia has failed to get the United Nations Security Council to approve an independent investigation into the September explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which connect Russia and Germany.
Moscow accuses a "state actor" from Western countries of what it considers sabotage.
The investigation, carried out by Denmark, Sweden and Germany, has not reached any conclusive result.
The 18 Leopard 2 tanks that Germany had promised to give Ukraine have been delivered to Kiev in an unidentified area of the Ukrainian border, according to
Spiegel news magazine
on Monday .
In the delivery, Berlin has also supplied the Government of Volodimir Zelensky with 40 Marder infantry vehicles.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also announced on Monday the first delivery of British-made Challenger tanks.
Minister Oleksi Reznikov's announcement comes on the same day that Germany has acknowledged the delivery of the first Leopard tanks, after being announced by
Der Spiegel
magazine .
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