Ukrainian President Vladimir zielinski
says that Russian forces have quote
completely destroyed the industrial
donbass region according to the regional
Governor Russian shelling killed at
least 12 people and wounded dozens in
the eastern city of severo Donetsk the
Ukrainian defense Ministry said intense
fighting there is preventing civilians
from fleeing the area
in his nightly video address zelenski
described the situation there as hell
the Ukrainian Armed Forces continued to
make progress in liberating the heart of
region but the occupiers are trying to
further strengthen the pressure in the
donbus it's held there and that's not an
exaggeration the bombardment of
severdonetsk is brutal and absolutely
senseless
earlier I asked DW's Furniture in Kiev
for more on the Russian assault in the
donbass region
that is extremely difficult for
civilians right now in fact almost
impossible actually to leave in a way
that's safe for them you have to
understand that Russian forces are
basically fighting over every village
over every road over every bridge and
same way obviously ukrainians as well as
they want to make sure and prevent that
Russian forces do not Advance further
into the donbass region but while this
is ongoing especially we have to zoom in
on this wonton severo donets which is
the administrative capital of the
luhan's region which is one of the two
regions of the donbass region and ever
since ever since 2014 the russian-backed
separatists took control over the
capital of luhansk which is luhan's City
ever since that basically severo Donetsk
is the Ukrainian territory in that
regard that Ukraine wants to make sure
that this is not falling also into the
hands of separatists or Russian forces
right now so as a result this is where
shelling is really really increasing and
this is unfortunately you you have the
casualties over the past 24 hours alone
about 13 people reportedly killed in
luhan's region and about 12 of them
according to the luhan's governor in
Sarah Donetsk so really the focus here
is on the city and unfortunately this is
the increased fighting increased
shelling is going to make the life of
people who are hunkering down there in
their basements wherever they can find
shelter it is making their life as
zelensky said pointed out there as as
Hal and the Really the question is just
how long this is going to go on because
in fact just yesterday President
zielinski signed a a a the decision that
the martial law is going to be extended
by three more months in Ukraine so very
likely unfortunately this what he
describes as quote hell is going to last
for quite some time unfortunately
now it seems the recent success of
Ukraine's troops has bolstered keeps
confidence we're going to take a quick
look at this tweet by an advisor to
president zielinski mikhailo porogliac
he's been involved in peace talks with
Russia he writes do not offer us a
ceasefire and then he adds kieva's not
interested in a new Minsk agreement the
ceasefire agreed in 2014 2015 aimed at
ending the fighting in the donbath
suggesting Moscow would simply launch
another war in a few years and then he
goes on until Russia is ready to fully
liberate occupied territories Ukraine's
negotiating team is weapons sanctions
and money
funny from from what you're hearing have
the ukrainians now basically given up on
peace talks and do they believe that
they can keep going head-to-head with
the Russians if this war continues to
drag on as you're suggesting
Ukraine certainly did not give up on
peace talks but what they may clear and
they made clear over and over ever since
this war has begun or this new offensive
to say so because people are actually
still saying the war actually began 2014
for the first time of the separatists
attacked the donbass region and not in
February
this year however they say they
definitely want to have peace but they
don't want that peace to be dictated by
Russia say they do not want Russia to
basically dictate the conditions under
which this piece is going to be a reach
or let's just at first talk about the
possible ceasefire at some point because
this is what people are looking at they
just have a ceasefire under which we can
talk about what's what's the way forward
but given the full picture that now
Ukraine is receiving billions of dollars
from the US but also from the G7
countries this is the time when Ukraine
says they want to win this war because
they don't want this war to be Frozen
and Russia to attack again in a few
years from there from now
DW correspondent Fanny Fletcher
reporting from Kiev thank you
now while fighting rages in donbass the
city of Hakeem is firmly in Ukrainian
hands after Russian troops were driven
away authorities are now eager to
restore public life and that includes
getting the hakive subway running again
that there are some obstacles to that as
our correspondent Matthias Berlinger has
been finding out
they came here to flee the bombs in now
they don't want to leave
people who have been living in the
subway station are petitioning the
government to let them stay subway
stations here in kharkiv have been
serving as bomb shelters since the
beginning of the war di Katarina talpa
and her husband have been living here
since the very first day
I go home every three weeks but I always
need to prepare myself mentally before I
can go
then I run home and take a bath we can
wash here but the conditions are not
ideal
others don't have a choice they do not
have a place to go back to anymore
this station is The Terminal Station of
the metro line the northernmost station
in the city it's closest to the front
line and to those areas that have been
most heavily shelled
the shelling of harkiv has all but
subsided and the local government wants
to get the subway system running again
it wants the people to leave the metro
and is offering to relocate them but
many here don't trust the peace
I do go out on the street sometimes
but the fear is always there it is not
that easy we need time to overcome it
around the subway station many of the
houses have been destroyed and some
streets barely a house has been
untouched Olga has also spent the past
months in a Subway it's the first time
she's come back to see the apartment
where she lived with her mother and her
son
foreign
she was told that there was damage but
she didn't know how bad it was
it's terrible
[Music]
the shell hits a wall in one of the
rooms there's debris everywhere
she documents everything people can
report the damage on the government
website but nobody knows how long it
will take to get any support
foreign
I still can't believe it I knew that the
windows were broken
if only that shell hadn't hit yeah if
there wasn't this hole in the wall we
might still somehow move back the house
is still standing but this is different
for now the only thing to do is to
collect some of their belongings they
will not move back to the subway but to
a relative's house
okay let's take a look at some of the
other developments in the war in Ukraine
the U.S Senate has overwhelmingly
approved nearly 40 billion dollars in
new aid for Ukraine the emergency
package includes military economic and
humanitarian assistance the decision
came as the U.S authorized the shipment
to Ukraine of another 100 million
dollars worth of weapons and equipment
from Pentagon stocks
German Chancellor Olaf Charlotte says
Ukraine's allies will not accept a piece
dictated by Russian President Vladimir
Putin addressing German lawmakers ahead
of a European meeting on Ukraine later
this month Chancellor Schultz pledged to
supply more weapons to Ukraine and to
work quickly to make Europe independent
of Russian energy
Russian missiles have hit a grain
Warehouse in eastern Ukraine officials
say the storage facility south of
zapparija is now completely unusable
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's
grain warehouses and other civilian
infrastructure