Ukraine's much-anticipated counteroffensive to oust the Russian military from its territory may be nearing completion, according to some movements and statements by officials linked to Kiev. This Saturday one of Volodymyr Zelenzki's top commanders posted a video on his social networks that leaves little room for speculation: "It's time to take back what is ours," it is titled.
The one who published it was the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, through his Telegram account. There are a group of soldiers preparing to enter combat, along with images of weapons and a leader haranguing them, while reciting a prayer.
The video was inspired by a prayer written nearly 100 years ago by Osyp Mashchak, a Ukrainian nationalist writer and politician who lived in the interwar years. The main theme of modern prayer is "Bless our determined offensive!"
"But the text here is completely different. It is a 'prayer for the liberation of Ukraine'. With such words and thoughts, our heroic soldiers go on the offensive to liberate Ukraine from the Russian invaders and raise the Victory Flag," reads the post accompanying the video.
This morning. Meanwhile, two drones damaged a building that manages an oil pipeline in Russia's western Pskov region, the regional governor announced Saturday. The explosion, the latest in a series of airstrikes in Russia, took place in the town of Litvinovo, about ten kilometers from the border with Belarus.
"Early in the morning, an explosion damaged the administrative building of the pipeline near Litvinovo in the Nevelsky district," Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said. According to initial reports, the building was damaged "after an attack by two unmanned aerial vehicles," he added.
A Ukrainian soldier descends from a German Panzerhaubitze 2000 tank, near Donetsk, AP Photo.
No casualties were reported and authorities opened an investigation. According to unconfirmed information published by Baza, a Russian media on Telegram that has sources in the secret services, the drones were aimed at the Transneft oil pumping station in Pskov.
Reports of drone strikes in Russia have multiplied in recent weeks, especially in regions bordering Ukraine.
Tehran accuses Zelenskiy of criticizing Iran to get more weapons
Tehran on Saturday accused Zelensky of criticizing Iran with the aim of obtaining more aid and weapons from Western powers to deal with the Russian offensive.
Iranian diplomacy reacted to a video released on Wednesday, in which the Ukrainian leader calls on the "Iranian people" to exert pressure on his government to move away from "Russian terror" and stop delivering drones to carry out attacks in Ukraine.
"The Ukrainian president's repetition of false accusations against the Iranian government and people" is aimed at "attracting as many weapons and financial aid as possible from Western countries," Iranian diplomatic spokesman Naser Kanani said.
In his video, subtitled in Persian, Zelenskiy denounced that when an Iranian-made Shahed 136 drone "hits a dormitory with students, people die, a fire breaks out, rescuers arrive, and then, a few minutes later, hits a second Shahed to kill rescuers."
Ukraine claims to have shot down 60 of these drones on Thursday and Friday nights, after a series of night bombings.
"Their Shaheds terrorizing Ukraine every night imply that the Iranian people are being pushed further and further into the dark side of history," Zelenskiy said in his video.
Iran said it had delivered drones to Moscow, but said the deliveries came before the offensive in Ukraine. "The Islamic Republic has always declared its opposition to the war in Ukraine," Kanani insisted on Saturday.
