During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s nightly address on Saturday, the people of Ukraine were offered a positive view of the war and learned of “good news” regarding recent successes in southern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy told viewers that, despite Russia’s increased aggression in the south, Ukrainian troops continue to defend their positions and are holding back Russian gains.
“Those fighting in the south of our country give us good news about the forces, weapons and equipment of the Russian army that they are putting out of action or destroying,” Zelenskyy said. “Not a single day is lost in our effort to diminish the occupiers’ capabilities.”
While offering some good news about the conflict in southern Ukraine, Zelenskyy reminded the world that fighting in the eastern Donbas region remains “fierce.”
“The hottest points on this front remain the same,” he said. “Avdiivka, Marinka, Pisky, Bakhmut and the rest of that area. Russia has sent a colossal amount of its military resources there: artillery, equipment, people.”
Zelenskyy said that all Ukrainian fighters in the region are “heroes” and that his troops continue to maintain a “strong” line of defense in Kharkiv Oblast, an eastern region of Ukraine just west of occupied Luhansk Oblast. The Ukrainian president said that Russian attempts to “conduct assault operations” in the region, following the full takeover of Luhansk, “fail all the time.”
Continued Export of Grain
After Ukraine and Russia agreed on a deal to allow safe passage of Ukrainian grain ships from its southern Black Sea ports last month, Zelenskyy offered additional good news for the world. Zelenskyy said that, since the first ship left the southern port of Odesa at the beginning of this month, an additional 15 ships have left the country, destined for seven countries on three continents.
“These are Europe, Asia, Africa,” he said. “Almost half a million tonnes of agricultural products were on board: corn, wheat, sunflower oil, soybeans and other goods absolutely necessary for the global market.”
Zelenskyy suggested that, should the ships continue to leave the ports, it will help “reduce the severity” of the global food crisis, and said that the deal has “given some hope of peace” to countries that depend on Ukrainian agricultural products.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
