“No matter how many Russian soldiers are brought here, we will fight and we will defend ourselves,” he said.
Not long ago, the Ukrainian governor of the Lukansk region, Sergei Kaitoy, announced the launch of an offensive by Russian troops against eastern Ukraine.
“This is hell. The attack we’ve been talking about for weeks has started,” he said on Facebook. “There are fights in Rubisne and Bopasna, and there are incessant fighting in other quiet cities.”
At least eight civilians were killed Monday in Russian fires and strikes, according to regional officials.
Four people were killed in what became known as the Kremlin, a small town in the Lukansk region, which fell to the Russians on Monday, Kaitoy said in a telegram.
According to the Ukrainian governor of the region Pavlo Kyrylenko, there are four people in Donetsk’s neighboring region. “Two in Torske, one in Chandrigalo and one in Razdolne. Five more were injured,” he told the Telegram.
Since the announcement of the withdrawal of its troops from the kyiv region, Russia has concentrated its armed forces in eastern Ukraine, which has been the target of frequent bombings since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
The Ukrainian military has announced a massive Moscow offensive against the Donbass for weeks, largely controlled by pro-Russian separatists in the Lukansk and Donetsk republics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will launch a military operation in Ukraine to save Donbass’ Russians from the “genocide” planned by Ukrainian “neo-Nazis”.
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