Zelensky Accuses Russia of Genocide in East

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky on Thursday accused Russia of carrying out a “genocide” in Donbas, in the east of the country. Russia is guilty of “deportation” and “mass murder of civilians,” President Zelensky said in his daily televised speech.

 

“The current offensive by the occupiers in Donbas could make the region uninhabitable,” Zelenski said. “They want to burn Popasna, Bakhmut, Lyman, Lysychansk and Severodonetsk (cities in the Donbas, ed.) to ashes. Like Volnovakha, like Mariupol.”

“In towns and communities closer to the Russian border, in Donetsk and Luhansk, they are gathering everyone they can to take the place of those killed and wounded by the occupiers,” Zelensky said.

“All this, including the deportation of our people and the mass murders of civilians, is a clear policy of genocide being pursued by Russia,” the Ukrainian president said.

Zelensky called putting pressure on the Russians “literally a matter of saving lives”. “And every day of delay, of weakness, different discussions or proposals to placate the aggressor at the expense of the victim means new Ukrainians killed. And new threats against everyone in our continent.”

The Ukrainian army is under heavy pressure in the east of the country. Russian troops continued their shelling on Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region on Thursday, the Ukrainian General Staff reported. The message is not independently verifiable.

Russian troops are regrouping in the border areas of Belgorod and Voronezh, Ukrainian military reports show. That means that attacks on the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions are to be feared.

On Thursday, nine more people were killed in a Russian bombing in the city of Kharkiv, Governor Oleg Sinegoebov wrote on Telegram.

Zelenski confirmed this in his speech and added that 19 people were also injured. “All citizens. A child (five months) and a father were killed. The mother is in very bad shape. Among the injured in Kharkiv is a nine-year-old girl.”

“Enemy forces are bombing our city again,” Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terechov also told Telegram. “I ask you to stay in safe areas, basements, bomb shelters and subway stations.”

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