Zelensky hints at withdrawal from Bakhmut and says will not defend ‘at any price’

Volodymyr Zelensky has indicated a Ukrainian withdrawal from the eastern city of Bakhmut if its defense becomes too costly in terms of human lives.

“Yes, it is not a particularly big city. In fact, like many others in the Donbass, (it) has been devastated by the Russians. It is important for us to defend it, but not at any cost and everyone not to die, ”Mr Zelensky told the Italian daily corriere della sera When asked whether Kiev’s outnumbered army should build fortifications in the eastern Ukraine city.

Fewer than 5,000 civilians live in the city which falls in the frontline Donetsk region and had a pre-war population of 70,000.

The next target for Russia after capturing the city, Soledar, has more symbolic value as a regional gain than any concrete strategic advantage as a gateway to cities in the far west in the Donetsk region.

Mr Zelensky said Russian commanders were bent on advancing west “and as far as (the central city of) Dnipro” in the Donetsk region, the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

“We will resist and in the meantime prepare for the next counter-offensive,” he said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukrainian forces are inflicting “extraordinarily significant” losses on Russian forces near the town of Vuhladar in the eastern Donbass region.

“The situation is very complex. And we are fighting. We are crushing the aggressors and inflicting extraordinarily significant damage on Russia,” Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

Zelensky referred to several towns in the Donbass where the fighting has been concentrated for months and said that “the more damage Russia does in the Donbass – in Bakhmut, Vuhladar, Marinka, Kremina – the faster we can move towards Ukraine”. Together we can end this war.” Victory”.

A cross-party coalition of MPs and peers has warned that the government must act urgently to help the thousands of Ukrainian refugees facing homelessness in Britain.

More than 4,200 Ukrainian households have presented to English councils as homeless since February last year, with 30 percent of them doing so in the November to January period.

More than 70 MPs and peers, including former Home Secretary Priti Patel and deputy speaker Dame Rosie Winterton, have signed an open letter calling on the government to widen the funding available to sponsors to ensure that No one seeking asylum in the UK should face the crisis in Ukraine. Homeless.

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The war on Ukraine, which marks its one-year anniversary this week, has killed at least 461 children and injured 924 others since February 24, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said yesterday.

Officials said a 16-year-old man was wounded in fresh gunfire on Friday in Bakhmut.

Officials have said that the actual number and number of casualties in the war are expected to be higher than the current figures as it does not include children injured and killed in Russian-occupied territories.

The wife of a church pastor in Ukraine whose family was separated weeks after Russia’s invasion has described what it’s like to be a single mother nearly 12 months after evacuating the country with her daughters.

Luda Sviridok, 48, fled Kharkiv with her two daughters, aged 17 and 10, and boarded a train with many other women and children from the church community – her husband Sergei, 46, and their son, 20, stayed in Ukraine Were .

Twelve months after Russia’s invasion, she is teaching English as a second language in the Czech Republic, and has only seen her husband – twice since leaving Ukraine – as he continues to take humanitarian aid to villages.

“We were able to meet several times,” Swiridok told the PA news agency.

“For the first time my husband was able to come to the Czech Republic in the summer and we traveled a bit as a family. And this year for Christmas I had to go with my daughters to Ukraine, of course not home, but to the western part of Ukraine, which is much safer.

“It is still very difficult for all of us to have divided families. It’s really harsh. It’s almost like being a single mother. I am responsible for my girls.

“The first meeting was very happy. But the Christmas meeting was, I don’t know, for me it was depressing and sad.

“When we left Ukraine, we thought we were leaving for a few weeks or maybe a few months. But now we’ve been here for a year and we don’t know when it’s going to end.

There is growing concern that a growing number of Ukrainian refugees in the UK are facing homelessness or destitution, the British government has been warned.

The latest official figures show that 4,295 Ukrainian families at risk of homelessness are in need of assistance from councils.

The data, as of 27 January, is 72% from English local authorities and therefore gives a “partial picture of the true scale of homelessness faced by this refugee community”, said the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Ending Homelessness.

The cross-party coalition of more than 70 MPs and peers said it welcomed the government’s response to the conflict in 2022, but called for “ensuring that refugees can access a safe and secure home and that they do not face homelessness”. Don’t have to” and called for more action.

The Kremlin claimed on Sunday that the United States was a “major instigator” of international tension for condoning attacks on Crimea, warning that the remarks about the peninsula underscored the depth of disagreement between the two countries.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to comments by US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland who said the United States believes Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, should be demilitarized And Washington supports Ukrainian attacks on military bases on the peninsula.

“Nuland belongs to a very broad camp of the most aggressive ‘hawks’ in American politics. It is a point of view we know well,” Peskov said in comments published by the TASS news agency.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday as Western leaders aimed to reinforce their support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s latest military offensive.

Mr. Macron’s office said in a statement that the two leaders had discussed Mr. Zelensky’s recent visits to London, Paris and the European Union in Brussels, and Mr. Macron offered the Ukrainian leader Nato support for more military supplies to Ukraine. was confirmed.

Mr. Macron reaffirmed his support for the 10-point peace proposal put forward by Mr. Zelensky during their phone call.

He told the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday that while France wanted to defeat Russia in Ukraine, it did not want to “crush” Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Ukraine’s military was inflicting “extraordinarily significant” losses on Russian forces near the town of Vuhledar in the eastern Donbass region.

“The situation is very complex. And we are fighting. We are crushing the aggressors and inflicting exceptionally significant damage on Russia,” he said in his nightly video address.

Mr. Zelensky referred to several cities in the Donbass where fighting has been concentrated for months, saying that “the more damage Russia does in the Donbass – in Bakhmut, Vuhledar, Marinka, Kremina – the faster we can move closer to Ukraine.” Will be able to end this war.” Victory”.

Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the Biden administration is planning to impose new export controls and a new round of sanctions on Russia, targeting key industries.

The new sanctions will target Russia’s defense and energy sectors, financial institutions and many individuals, the report said, with the US and allies also considering sanctions evasion and fraud to disrupt support Russia receives from third countries. Can

A spokesman for the White House National Security Council declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

The EU proposal for new sanctions includes Iranian entities that provide drones and other military supplies, technology, components, heavy vehicles, electronics and rare-earths to Russia, the report said.