In a video handle shared on-line early Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine condemned Russian assaults on protesters within the metropolis of Kherson within the south and strikes within the Zaporizhzhia area within the southeast, the place 4 kids have been hospitalized.
Mr. Zelensky mentioned the Ukrainian military had largely stalled Russian advances on Monday.
“The enemy is slowly making an attempt to maneuver to go on the offensive someplace, to seize our highway someplace, to cross the river someplace,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned in a translation of his remarks shared by his workplace.
In Kherson, which has been held by Russian forces since March 2, Mr. Zelensky mentioned Russian troops shot at folks “who peacefully took to the streets with out weapons at a rally for his or her freedom — for our freedom.”
“The Russian troopers don’t even know what it’s wish to be free,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned, condemning the assault. “They have been pushed right here, to be trustworthy, as if sentenced — sentenced to dying, sentenced to shame.”
The taking pictures scattered the gang of protesters. It was not instantly clear if there have been any accidents or fatalities in that assault.
In a separate assault, a gaggle of civilians got here underneath assault within the Zaporizhzhia area within the southeast, hospitalizing 4 kids, of which two have been in grave situation, Mr. Zelensky mentioned.
Via humanitarian corridors on Monday in a number of cities throughout the nation — together with Kyiv, the capital, and Mariupol, a key coastal metropolis within the south — Mr. Zelensky mentioned 8,057 folks have been rescued. The variety of evacuees couldn’t be independently verified. “Thanks to everybody who did it, who labored for the folks,” he mentioned.
Some earlier makes an attempt to evacuate folks, and ship meals and provides by humanitarian corridors had failed after they have been caught underneath hearth from Russian troops.
“It was a day of adverse occasions,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned, doubtless referencing Russian strikes that left pockets of dying and destruction across the nation. “But it surely was one other day that introduced us all nearer to our victory.”