Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow was starting a new stage in what he called a “special military operation” in Ukraine, which he predicted would be a significant development.
“Another step of this operation [no leste da Ucrânia] is starting and I’m sure this will be a very important moment of this whole special operation,” Lavrov said in an interview with India Today TV channel.
The Russian Defense Ministry said, also on Tuesday (19), that 1,260 targets were hit in Ukrainian territory on Monday night.
Russian anti-aircraft forces shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 jet in the Donetsk region, the ministry said.
“Battle of Donbass”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and senior Ukrainian government officials said Monday that Russian forces had launched a new offensive across most of Ukraine’s eastern flank and the “Battle of Donbass” had begun. .
Ukraine’s army has been preparing for a new Russian attack on the eastern side of the country since Moscow withdrew its forces from near the capital Kiev and northern Ukraine late last month to focus on an attack in the Donbass region.
“Now we can say that Russian forces have started the battle of Donbass, which they have been preparing for a long time,” Zelensky said in a video speech.
Security Council Secretary of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said in televised remarks: “They [as forças russas] started their attempt to start the active phase this morning.”
“This morning, along almost the entire front line of the eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv, the occupiers tried to breach our defenses,” he declared.
Russia has been building up its forces in eastern Ukraine using troops it has pulled from the north and neighboring Belarus, a close Russian ally.
In a social media post, the Ukrainian Armed Forces command said that Russia’s main military force was focusing on taking control of the entire area of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which make up the strip of land known as the Donbass.
“The second phase of the war has begun… Trust our army, it is very strong,” Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
Russian reinforcements set the stage for a protracted battle that, according to military analysts, is sure to inflict heavy losses on both sides.
Source: CNN Brasil
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