Russian troops have launched ‘Battle of Donbas’ in eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy says
Moscow is targeting other areas, including Kyiv, with long-range hits
Russia has launched a full-scale ground attack on Ukraine's east with blasts reported across the region, officials in Kyiv have said.
A “very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address. "No matter how many Russian troops they send there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves."
For the last eight years, Moscow-backed rebels have fought Ukrainian soldiers in the Donbas, a largely Russian-speaking industrial heartland in the east.
Two Donbas provinces targeted
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy's Chief of Staff, assured Ukrainians that their forces would be able to hold off the attack. "Believe in our army. It is very strong," Yermak said.
Ukraine’s two provinces in the Donbas region in the east have been targeted by the latest assault. A Reuters report said Russians seized Kreminna, a frontline town of 18,000 people in Luhansk, one of the provinces under attack.
Russians have continued long-range attacks on other targets, including the capital, Reuters reported.