Russia Zelensky condemns Russian attack on journalists

Following the deadly Russian artillery attack on a hotel housing foreign journalists in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has strongly condemned the attack. "This is daily Russian terror," said Zelensky in his evening video address. The world must act quickly and decisively to stop the aggressor Russia. "Time means losses. And the longer we have to wait, the more damage Russia will be able to cause."

The shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk hit a hotel where a six-person team from the Reuters news agency was staying. One of the journalists' British security advisors was killed and his body was only recovered hours later. Two other journalists were also injured, including a German.

During the course of the day, at least four people were also killed by Russian artillery fire in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy. A further 13 civilians were injured.

Selensky took these attacks as an opportunity to call on the international community to exert more pressure on the "terrorist state", which has been waging a destructive war of aggression against Ukraine for two and a half years. In addition to the full implementation of sanctions against Moscow, Selensky once again called for the use of frozen Russian money for the benefit of his country. He recalled a decision by the seven major Western industrialized nations (G7) to grant Ukraine a loan of 50 billion dollars, which is to be secured by interest income from frozen Russian assets.

Ukraine observes troop deployment in Belarus

The Ukrainian government confirmed the troop build-up on the border announced by neighboring Belarus a week ago. According to the foreign ministry in Kiev, new units with tanks, artillery and air defense were observed in the Gomel region of Belarus. Mercenaries from the former Russian Wagner troops have also been identified.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on those responsible in Minsk "not to make any tragic mistakes for their own country under pressure from Moscow" and to withdraw the troops to a reasonable distance from the common border. At the same time, Kiev emphasized that "no hostile actions of any kind" were planned against the Belarusian people.

Only a few days ago, Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko announced an increase in troops towards the border with Ukraine. He cited strong troop accumulations on the Ukrainian side as the reason for this. He claimed that Ukraine had stationed up to 120,000 soldiers there.

The neighboring country, which is allied with Russia, is not actively involved in the war against Ukraine. However, Lukashenko allowed Russian troops to advance from Belarus into Ukraine in February 2022. After heavy setbacks and losses during the attempted advance towards Kiev, these Russian units had to withdraw.

Situation on the fronts in eastern Ukraine remains tense

In eastern Ukraine, the heavy fighting around the Donbass continues unabated. Once again, it was the towns of Pokrovsk and Torezk against which Russian troops repeatedly advanced. There was still no concrete information on the evacuation of the civilian population from Pokrovsk, which has already begun.

In their advance into the Kursk region in western Russia, the Ukrainian units reported further successes. "We are advancing further in the Kursk region - up to three kilometers," said Selenskyj. The Ukrainian troops had brought two more settlements under their control and taken more prisoners of war.