Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia may be planning to start a war in the Balkans to distract from its ongoing struggle with Ukraine.
“Pay attention to the Balkans. Believe me, we received information: Russia has a long plan,” Zelensky told reporters Thursday, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“If the countries of the world do nothing now, there will be such an explosion,” he added, explaining that additional conflicts would affect the amount of aid that could be given to his own country.
Zelensky offered no evidence for his dire prediction, which comes nearly two months after an incident along the border between long-time Balkan foes Kosovo and Serbia left four people dead.
After the deadly shooting, Serbia briefly began massing troops along its border with Kosovo despite no further escalation between the two countries.
The Ukrainian leader also pointed to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas that has engrossed the United States and other western allies, suggesting, again without providing evidence, “Russia is behind this, we are sure, with their ally Iran.”
Zelensky warned that more conflict would affect the amount of aid that allies could provide.REUTERS
Zelesnky’s warning came days before Russia bombarded Ukraine with a massive drone strike overnight, with Moscow launching 38 Iranian-made Shahad drones from 8 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Saturday, according to Ukrainian military officials.
Although Kyiv shot down 29 of the drones, Ukraine’s energy ministry said the attack damaged the electricity grid in Odessa region in the south and Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, resulting in power outages in more than 416 towns and villages.
The drone strike also hit an oil refinery, and damaged administrative buildings and injured civilians, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russia launched overnight drone strikes in the Ukrainian regions of Odessa and Zaporizhzhia.via REUTERS
The raid came after the Ukrainian Marines reported on Friday a series of “successes”, including forcing Russian troops out of the east bank of the Dnipro River in the occupied Kherson region and establishing their own positions in the area.
“Ukrainian defense forces conducted a series of successful operations on the left bank of the Dnipro River, along the Kherson front,” General Staff spokesman Andriy Kovalyov said on the military’s YouTube channel.
Russia admitted this week for the first time that Ukrainian troops had broken through to the east bank, but Vladimir Saldo, the governor of the Russian-backed Kherson region, warned Kyiv’s soldiers faced “hellfire” and would be annihilated.
British military officials said that neither Ukraine nor Russia had made much progress in areas of heavy ground fighting, including Avdiivka.REUTERS
On Saturday, Russia claimed to have bombed Ukrainian troops near a river, killing 75 soldiers and destroying four vehicles, The Guardian reported.
The area is one of three that has seen heavy fighting in the ongoing war, but neither Russia nor Ukraine has made significant progress, The British Ministry of Defense reported.
Ukrainian officials have blamed its sluggish counterattack on minefields and Russian defense lines, along with delays in arms supplies from western allies.
In another area of heavy conflict, the war-torn town of Avdiivka in southeastern Ukraine, Russia has suffered “heavy casualties” British military officials said, with some estimating the loss of at least 4,000 troops.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
