Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this in his traditional evening video address, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"Now we can already state that Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time. A very significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated for this offensive. No matter how much of the Russian military is driven there, we will fight, we will defend ourselves, we will do it daily. We will not give anything Ukrainian, but we simply do not need someone else's," Zelenskyy said.
He noted that in the east and south, the invaders have been trying to attack recently a little more thoughtfully than it was before, looking for weaknesses in the defense of Ukraine in order to go there with the main forces.
Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to all fighters and heroic cities in the Donbas, especially Mariupol, and in Kharkiv region, which hold on, defend the whole of Ukraine, restraining the forces of the invaders.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Monday evening reported that signs of the beginning of an offensive operation of the Russian invaders were being recorded in the eastern operating zone.
Advisor to the head of the President's Office Oleksii Arestovych said on the evening of April 17 that Russian troops launched an offensive in the south in the direction of Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia region.
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