Since the start of the war in Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, the UN has documented the death of 9,000 civilians, including 500 children, although it estimates that the figure could be much higher.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyclaimed the “bravery” of his people and released a video on a reconquered island on Saturday 500 days of resistance to the Russian invasion, which maintained the pressure with a new lethal bombardment in the east.
Zelensky posted on social media an undated video of a visit to the Island of Snakes in the Black Sea, which has become a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance.
“Today we are on the Island of Snakes, which will never be conquered by the occupiers, together with all of Ukraine, because we are the country of the brave,” he said.
500 dn_v повномасштабної vіyni. І жодного дня слабкості.
Дякую всім, хто бʼється заради свободи та незалежності України!
??????——
500 days of the full-scale war. And not a single day of weakness.
Thank you to everyone who fights for the freedom and independence of Ukraine!… pic.twitter.com/UUJqtLO4G3— Volodimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) July 8, 2023
In the first days of the invasion, in a radio exchange, Ukrainian soldiers replied with a loud “fuck off” to the crew of a Russian warship that demanded their surrender. The island fell into Russian hands but was recaptured in June 2022.
“I want to thank from here, from this place of victory, each one of our soldiers for these 500 days”Zelenski added in the video, where he appears arriving on the island by boat and depositing flowers and candles.
Since the start of the war, on February 24, 2022, the UN has documented the death of 9,000 civilians, including 500 childrens, although he estimates that the figure could be much higher.
This balance increased again this Saturday with the death of eight people by Russian rocket fire in the city of Lyman, in the east, indicated the Ukrainian authorities.
And two other people died in a Ukrainian shelling in the city of Oleshki (south), occupied by Russia, according to the rescue services cited by the Russian news agency TASS.
According to Noel Calhoun, deputy director of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (Hrmmu), the 500 days of conflict mark “another grim milestone in the war that continues to take a horrible toll on the Ukrainian civilian population.”
cluster bombs
Zelensky, on a tour of several countries seeking Western support ahead of a NATO summit next week, arrived in Turkey on Friday, July 7, where he won President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s endorsement of Ukraine’s aspirations to become a member of the Transatlantic Defense Alliance.
The Ukrainian president prayed in Istanbul on Saturday for the victims of the war together with Patriarch Bartholomew, considered the leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians.
The United States has pledged to deliver cluster bombs to Ukraine, a controversial move because cluster bombs are banned in much of the world, though not in Russia or Ukraine.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, admitted that supplying these types of weapons, which explode in the air and disperse a large amount of submunitions over a large area, was “a difficult decision”, condemned by several NGOs.
Russia affirmed that the delivery of cluster bombs to Ukraine is a show of “weakness” that will make Washington an “accomplice” in the deaths of civilians that this weapon may cause.
For now, international efforts to mediate the conflict have failed, including those by Erdogan, who, while boosting trade with Russia, is supplying Ukraine with drones and other weapons.
“There is no doubt that Ukraine deserves NATO membership,” Erdogan said, at the risk of complicating his relations with Russia.
The Turkish president said he will talk with Putin about possible exchanges of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners, as well as the possible extension of a deal negotiated last year so that Ukraine can export grain to the global market through the Black Sea.
The agreement will expire on July 17 unless Russia agrees to its renewal.
*Also read: Zelensky returns to Ukraine with “new and powerful weapons” to stop Russia
With information from AFP
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