PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron conveyed to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky his “desire to work actively to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity during his second term,” in coordination with his allies, the presidential Elysee Palace said.
Macron assured Zelensky in their lengthy conversation on Saturday that “military supplies” and humanitarian aid would continue to arrive in Ukraine, the Elysee said.
So far, France has sent 615 tonnes of equipment and aid, including generators for hospitals, ambulances and food. France was secretive about its contribution to defense weapons, but Macron recently mentioned Milan’s anti-tank missiles and the delivery of truck-mounted Caesar cannons as “follow-up equipment.”
“This support will continue to grow,” French President Zelensky told Elysee.
Macron was re-elected president of France six days ago. During his first term, Macron held numerous talks with both Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin following Russia’s February 24 invasion.
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KEY DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
– Ukrainian forces are fighting Russia’s offensive in Donbass
– The wives of the defenders of Mariupol call for the evacuation of the soldiers from the final resistance
– Ukrainians are returning across the front line to their homes despite the dangers
– Ukrainian women learn how to clear mines after finding refuge in Kosovo
Follow all AP stories about Russia’s war against Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LVIV, Ukraine – Russia’s foreign minister has said Moscow has evacuated more than 1 million people from Ukraine since the start of the war there.
Sergei Lavrov’s comments on Saturday in an interview with China’s state-run Xinhua news agency came after Ukraine accused Moscow of forcibly sending Ukrainians out of the country. Lavrov said the figure includes more than 300 Chinese civilians.
Lavrov did not offer any evidence to support his claim in the interview.
Lavrov also said that talks between Russia and Ukraine continue “almost every day.” However, he warned that “progress has not been easy”.
Lavrov partly blamed “the military rhetoric and incitement of Western supporters of the regime in Kyiv” to halt talks. However, Russian state television has guests who suggest that Moscow is using nuclear weapons in the conflict.
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LVIV, Ukraine – The British military believes that Russian forces in Ukraine are likely to suffer from “weakened morale”.
The British Ministry of Defense made this assessment in a tweet on Saturday as part of a daily report it provided on Russia’s war against Kyiv.
It says Russia “still faces significant challenges” in hostilities. The British military believes that Russian forces are “forced to merge and redeploy exhausted and heterogeneous units from the failed offensive in northeastern Ukraine.”
He did not provide information on how he came to this assessment. However, analysts believe that Russian forces that failed to capture Kyiv at the beginning of the war were redeployed without the necessary time for proper rearmament and re-recruitment.
The British believe that Russia hopes to reorganize its efforts and cut supply lines.
The ministry added: “The lack of unit-level skills and inconsistent air support has made Russia incapable of making full use of its warhead, despite localized improvements.
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WASHINGTON – A senior US defense official said on Friday that the Russian offensive was much slower than planned, in part because of the strength of Ukrainian resistance.
“We also appreciate that due to this slow and uneven progress, again, without perfect knowledge of every aspect of the Russian plan, we believe and appreciate that they are lagging behind the schedule in what they were trying to achieve in Donbass,” the official said. anonymity to discuss the U.S. military’s assessment.
He said the United States believed the Russians were “at least a few days behind where they wanted to be” as they tried to encircle Ukrainian troops to the east.
As troops try to move north of Mariupol to advance against Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress is “slow and uneven and certainly not decisive in any case,” the official said.
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Kyiv, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has accused Russia of trying to destroy Donbass and all who live there.
“The constant brutal bombings, the constant Russian strikes on infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people. Therefore, the protection of our land, the protection of our people is literally a struggle for life, “he said late Friday evening in a video address to the nation.
He said that the cities of Donbass will survive only if Ukraine remains in power. “If the Russian invaders succeed in carrying out their plans, even in part, then they have enough artillery and planes to turn the whole of Donbass to stone. As they did with Mariupol. “
Zelensky said Mariupol, once one of the most developed cities in the region, is now a “Russian concentration camp among the ruins.”
In Kharkiv, a large city in the north, the situation was “brutal”, but Ukrainian troops and intelligence agents “achieved important tactical successes”, he said, without elaborating.
Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said about 20% of the city’s residential buildings are so badly damaged that it will be impossible to restore them.
Zelensky said rescuers were still walking through the rubble in Kyiv after the missile strikes on Thursday. He expressed his condolences to the family of Vira Hiric, who died in the bombing. He said she was the 23rd journalist killed in the war.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seems to have rejected the need for the UN to help secure humanitarian corridors from besieged Ukrainian cities, taking a hard line a day after the UN chief toured war-torn Kyiv.
As an interviewer on Saudi television Al-Arabiya tried to ask Lavrov about UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ proposals for humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians, Lavrov cut him off.
“There is no need. I know, I know,” Lavrov said irritably. “There is no need for anyone to help open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem – humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultranationals,” he said.
“We appreciate the Secretary-General’s interest in being useful,” he added. “(We) explained … what is the mechanism for them to monitor how the humanitarian corridors are announced.
During a one-hour interview, Lavrov also accused the West of sabotaging Russia’s peace talks with Ukraine. He claims that thorny talks in Istanbul last month progressed over Russian territorial claims and security guarantees, until Ukrainian diplomats backed down at the behest of the West.
“We are stuck because of their desire to play games all the time,” Lavrov said. “Because of the instructions they receive from Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to speed up the negotiations.
Asked about the risks of the war spilling over into neighboring Moldova after a series of explosions shook the country’s breakaway border region, Lavrov said in a sinister tone.
“Moldova needs to worry about its own future,” he said. “Because they are being withdrawn to NATO.
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