at least 25 dead in the south of the country after a strike on civilian vehicles

In Ukraine, nearly 25 people were killed in a strike on a column of civilian vehicles in southern Ukraine, near Zaporizhia. 50 other people were injured. A strike that comes just hours before Russia’s planned annexation of four Ukrainian regions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky raged against Russia, denouncing a “terrorist” state. In the east of the country, on the other hand, the Ukrainian army is advancing, “partially” encircling the Russians in the town of Lyman.

Russian forces “partially encircled” in Lyman, in the East

Russian forces are “partially surrounded” in the strategic town of Lyman, in eastern Ukraine, a senior separatist official acknowledged on Friday, the day of Moscow’s planned annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

“At present, Lyman is partially surrounded. The road to Svatove is under our control, but periodically under fire,” said Denis Pushilin, head of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk, on Telegram. He acknowledged that the villages of Yampil and Drobychevé, close to Lyman, “are not under the total control” of Moscow.

Nearly 25 killed in southern Ukraine in strike on column of civilian vehicles

A devastating strike on a column of civilian vehicles left 25 dead in southern Ukraine on Friday, hours before Russia’s planned annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

On the occasion of these annexations, which represent a serious escalation of the offensive launched on February 24, a long speech by Vladimir Putin and festivities are planned in Moscow, even though an often chaotic mobilization is taking place in Russia, which drove tens of thousands of Russians into exile.

The Kremlin is to host a ceremony at 12:00 GMT during which Vladimir Putin is to deliver a speech announced as “voluminous” to celebrate the Russian conquests, at the very moment when his army is in difficulty on the ground, retreating in the face of a counter- Ukrainian offensive, particularly at Lyman, an important railway hub in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called an emergency meeting of his Security Council for Friday and called for more Western weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls Russia ‘terrorists’ and ‘bloodthirsty scum’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky got angry with Russia on Friday, calling its leaders “terrorists” and “bloodthirsty scum” after a strike on a column of civilians in Zaporizhia left at least 25 dead and 50 injured.

“Only complete terrorists can do this and should have no place in the civilized world,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, before launching: “Bloody scum! You will certainly answer for every Ukrainian life lost!”. The pro-Russian authorities in turn blame kyiv for this deadly strike.

The Security Council votes this Friday on a resolution condemning the “referendums” in Ukraine

The UN Security Council will vote on Friday on a resolution condemning the “referendums” of annexation of several Ukrainian regions and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops, a text which has no chance of being adopted because of the right of veto Russian.

The meeting will take place on Friday at 3:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT), before another planned discussion on the leaks discovered on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, said the French Presidency of the Council.

The draft text seen by AFP “condemns the organization by the Russian Federation of so-called illegal referendums” in the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhya, and judges that they can have “no validity” nor “serve as a basis for any alteration of the status of these regions”, “including any purported annexation” by Russia.

The draft resolution prepared by the United States and Albania calls on all states and other organizations “not to recognize an alleged annexation” of the four regions by Russia.