Ukraine acknowledged on Friday that it had suffered heavy casualties in the Russian offensive in the east, but said Russia’s losses were even worse as US President Joe Biden called on Congress to send up to $ 33 billion to help Kyiv withstand the attack. The body of a journalist from the US-backed radio station Radio Liberty was found in the rubble in the Ukrainian capital, who was killed in a Russian rocket attack during the visit of the UN Secretary General. President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Biden’s offer of aid, which equates to nearly 10 times the amount of aid Washington has sent since the start of the war on February 24. Having failed in an attack on Kyiv in northern Ukraine last month, Russia is now trying to fully occupy two eastern provinces known as the Donbas. Ukraine has acknowledged that it has lost control of some towns and villages since the attack began last week, but says Moscow’s gains have come at a huge cost to a Russian power already exhausted by its previous defeat near the capital. “We have serious losses, but the losses of the Russians are much greater … They have colossal losses,” said presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych. By pledging tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, Biden has dramatically increased US involvement in the conflict. The United States and its allies are now sending heavy weapons, including artillery, with the goal, Washington says, not just to repel Russia’s attack but to weaken its armed forces so that it can no longer threaten its neighbors. “We need this bill to support Ukraine in its struggle for freedom,” Biden said. “The cost of this fight – it’s not cheap – but giving in to aggression will be more expensive.” Zelensky wrote on Twitter: “I thank @POTUS and the American people for their leadership in supporting Ukraine in our fight against Russian aggression. We stand for common values - democracy and freedom. We appreciate the help. “It is needed today more than ever!” Russia has said that the arrival of Western weapons in Ukraine means that it is now waging a “proxy war” against NATO. President Vladimir Putin threatened unspecified retaliation this week, while his foreign minister warned him of the threat of nuclear war.
A journalist was found in the rubble
Prague-based Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE / RL) said the body of producer Vira Hyrych was found Friday morning after a rocket attack on Thursday destroyed the two lower floors of a residential building. He stated that Hyrych has been working for Radio Liberty since 2018. “She was going to sleep when a Russian ballistic missile hit her apartment in the center of Kiev. “Russia’s brutality is incomprehensible,” said Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko. “We call on the media to condemn the killing of Vira and all the other innocent Ukrainians.” The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had destroyed the production facilities of a missile factory in Kyiv with high-precision long-range missiles. The US-funded RFE / RL, which covers the former Soviet Union from the Cold War, is one of the main remaining Russian-language news sources outside the Kremlin’s control, as Moscow virtually shut down all independent media after its invasion. . “Kyiv is still a dangerous place and Kyiv is still the target of the Russians, of course. “The capital of Ukraine is the target and they want to occupy it,” said Mayor Vitali Klitschko, overseeing the clearing of the rubble before the body was found. The rockets hit the capital during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov called it an “attack on the Secretary-General’s security and global security.” Zelensky’s office said Russia was pounding the entire front line in the eastern Donetsk region with rockets, artillery, mortar bombs and aircraft. The Ukrainian general staff said Russia was bombing positions along the line of contact to prevent the reconstruction of the Ukrainians. Britain said the fighting was particularly fierce around the towns of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk, the main part of the Donbas that Russia is still trying to seize, with an attempt to advance south from Russian Izium to Sloviansk. “Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and have been achieved at a significant cost to Russian forces,” the Pentagon said in a statement. The bloodiest battles and the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the war took place in Mariupol, an eastern port that has been turned into a desert by two months of Russian bombing and siege. Ukraine says 100,000 civilians remain in the city, which is mostly occupied by Russia. Hundreds of civilians are hiding with the last defenders left in underground warehouses under a huge steel mill. Zelensky’s office said an operation was planned on Friday to evacuate civilians from the factory, without giving details. In parts of Mariupol now held by Russian troops, emergency services were collecting corpses from the streets. Residents among the wreckage recounted the horror they had survived. “We were hungry, the child was crying when the Grad (multiple rocket launchers) hit near the house. We thought, this is the end. “It cannot be described,” said Viktoria Nikolayeva, 54, who survived a fight with her family in a basement, weeping. “It was a massacre,” said Vitaliy Kudasov, 71. “It was the scariest thing when the shells were flying overhead. Shells, rounds and all that, you could not survive. And yet we did it. “ On April 28, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres toured the Kiev region of Borodyanka and Bucha, which were bombed and occupied during a Russian offensive in northern Ukraine before retreating to focus on the east. Reuters Our Morning and Afternoon Newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a brief overview of the day’s most important headlines. Register today.
