(Kyiv) Ukrainian officials reported higher civilian casualties in Russian shelling in the east and south of the country on Saturday morning, as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s visit to Kyiv kicked off in a sign continued support from Madrid and the European Union to Ukraine’s struggle to dislodge Russian forces from its territory.
In an address to the Ukrainian parliament which received several standing ovations, Mr. Sánchez said: “We will be with you as long as it takes. »
“I am here to express the firm determination of the European Union and Europe against Russia’s illegal and unjustified aggression against Ukraine,” he said on the day Spain took over. presidency, alternating every six months, of the European Union (EU) of 27.
PHOTO SERGEI CHUZAVKOV, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a joint press conference in Kyiv on 1er July.
Mr. Sánchez met President Volodymyr Zelensky before giving a joint press conference on Saturday afternoon.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, regional officials reported that at least three civilians were killed and at least 17 others injured by Russian shelling on Friday and overnight. Three people died and 10 others were injured Friday in the eastern Donetsk region of the front line, where heavy fighting is raging, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Saturday.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that heavy clashes continued in three areas of Donetsk, where it said Russia had gathered troops and tried to advance. In the latest of regular social media updates, the General Staff designated the outskirts of three cities — Bakhmut, Lyman and Marinka — as frontline hotspots, and said Russia had staged the day before the failed assault attempts.
Five people, including a child, were injured on Friday night in the southern Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. He said Russian forces launched 82 artillery, drone, mortar and rocket attacks on the province, which is bisected by a 1,500 kilometer stretch of the front line and still under shock from the floods triggered by the collapse earlier last month of a major dam on the Dnipro.
PHOTO EVGENIY MALOLETKA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Ukrainian emergency service firefighter changes position as he stands in front of a house destroyed by a Russian bombardment, in a residential area of Kherson, Ukraine, on 1er July.
In the northeastern region of Kharkiv, Russian shelling the day before injured a 57-year-old civilian, local governor Oleh Syniehubov said the same morning. In the Sumy region further west, a teenager was injured in a strike across the Russian border, the local military administration reported.
Referring to possible peace talks, the Spanish leader said that “only Ukraine can set the conditions and deadlines for peace negotiations. Other countries and regions are proposing peace plans. Their involvement is greatly appreciated, but, at the same time, we cannot fully accept them.
“It is a war of aggression, with an aggressor and a victim. They cannot be treated the same and ignoring the rules should not be rewarded in any way. That is why we support President Zelensky’s peace formula,” Mr. Sánchez added.
With the collaboration of Ciarán Giles