Zelensky says Russia has taken ‘powerful blows’ and had 16,000 troops killed
Zelensky says Russia has taken ‘powerful blows’ and had 16,000 troops killed as he takes delivery of 1,500 German anti-aircraft missiles and Putin scales back invasion aims to ‘liberating’ Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region as he keeps shelling civilians
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has been beaten back by the ‘powerful blows’ of Ukrainian forcesHe said approximately 16,000 of alleged war criminal Vladimir Putin’s troops had been killed during the warIt came as President Zelensky welcomed 1,500 German anti-aircraft missiles to fight off Russian fighter jets Zelensky said: ‘Over the past week, our heroic Armed Forces have dealt powerful blows to the enemyIn a surprise appearance by video link at Qatar’s Doha Forum today he called for more help from world powers
<!–
<!–
<!–<!–
<!–
(function (src, d, tag){
var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0];
s.src = src;
prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev);
}(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/1.17.0/async_bundle- -.js”, document, “script”));
<!–
DM.loadCSS(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/gunther-2159/video_bundle- -.css”);
<!–
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has been beaten back by the ‘powerful blows’ of Ukrainian forces, with 16,000 of Putin‘s troops killed.
It came as Zelensky welcomed a delivery of 1,500 German anti-aircraft missiles, while alleged war criminal Putin was said to be scaling back his invasion aims to ‘liberating’ Ukraine‘s eastern Donbas region as he continued to shell civilians.
Zelensky said: ‘Over the past week, our heroic Armed Forces have dealt powerful blows to the enemy. Significant losses.’
‘I am grateful to our defenders who showed the occupiers that the sea will not be calm for them even when there is no storm. Because there will be fire.
A man hurries to walk away from a building that was just hit by Russian bombardment, and caught on fire, in the Moskovskyi district in Kharkiv
A destroyed Russian MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) vehicles with the ammunition still intact can be seen in Kyiv
Russian T80 tank captured by the Ukrainian service members is seen, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region
Ukrainian service members inspect destroyed Russian military vehicles, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region on March 25
In a surprise appearance by video link at Qatar’s Doha Forum today (pictured) Zelensky called for more help from world powers
Zelensky said: ‘Over the past week, our heroic Armed Forces have dealt powerful blows to the enemy. Significant losses’
Russian forces have carried out intense shelling of Ukrainian cities in an attempt to further their invasion of the country
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has been beaten back by the ‘powerful blows’ of Ukrainian forces, with 16,000 of Putin’s troops killed
Zelensky has welcomed a delivery of 1,500 German anti-aircraft missiles, while alleged war criminal Putin was said to be scaling back his invasion aims to ‘liberating’ Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region as he continued to shell civilians. Pictured: Destroyed apartments in the city centre of Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 25
‘By restraining Russia’s actions, our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: talk is necessary. Meaningful. Urgent. Fair. For the sake of the result, not for the sake of the delay.’
Zelensky said the devastation of Mariupol was getting worse, with tens of thousands trapped in the southeastern city without water, food or heating.
He said: ‘The situation in the city remains tragic. Absolutely tragic. The Russian military does not allow any humanitarian aid into the city.
Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said its troops were continuing to fend off Russian attacks on Kyiv.
President Zelensky also made a surprise video appearance at Qatar’s Doha Forum today.
In a video address he criticised Russia’s war and called on the United Nations and world powers for more help.
A destroyed Russian tank is seen, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region, Ukraine March 25
Two destroyed Russian APC (Armoured personnel carrier) can be seen in the Kyiv region of Ukraine
He compared Russia’s destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war.
He said: ‘They are destroying our ports. The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.’
He added: ‘The future of Europe rests with your efforts.’
He called on countries to increase their exports of energy – something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas.
He criticised Russia for what he described as threatening the world with its nuclear weapons.
Ukraine has disabled 20 Russian battalions, Western officials said today, as a Kremlin army chief hinted that Moscow may scale back its all-out attack on its neighbour and instead focus on ‘liberating’ the eastern Donbas region. Pictured: (L-R) Sergei Rudskoi, a senior representative of the General Staff, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov and Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre, hold a briefing on Russian military action in Ukraine, in Moscow on March 25, 2022
Russia’s defence ministry also updated its losses in Ukraine to 1,351 soldiers, adding that 3,825 soldiers had been wounded – figures that are far lower than Western intelligence estimates that put Moscow’s losses in the tens of thousands
A Ukrainian soldier passes by a destroyed Russian artillery system ‘Grad’, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 24, 2022. But the update – combined with the West’s claim that Russia has lost 20 out of the 120 battalions originally massed on Ukraine’s border – is the latest sign that Vladimir Putin has rolled back his ambitions, and is on the run
In one attack on Friday, Ukraine said a Russian missile attack had hit a military command centre in the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine. Kyiv officials reported the attack on Friday, adding it was unknown if there were any casualties. The Ukrainian air force posted an image (pictured) of the alleged centre in rubble and said missiles had hit ‘several buildings, causing significant damage to infrastructure’
A cyclist rides past by houses destroyed by shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 25, 2022
Volunteers and neighbours try to extinguish a fire at a house shelled by the Russian army in Horenychi, Ukraine, March 25
‘Russia is deliberating bragging they can destroy with nuclear weapons, not only a certain country but the entire planet,’ Zelensky said.
The Kremlin has disputed that 16,000 Russian troopshave been killed, claiming the figure is just 1,351.
A possible Russian backtrack came ahead of a planned meeting by US President Joe Biden with Ukrainian refugees in Poland and talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Warsaw before he gives a speech on the ‘brutal war’, the White House said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the February invasion to destroy Ukraine’s military and topple pro-Western President Volodymyr Zelensky, bringing the country under Russia’s sway.
A local resident points at an apartment building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 25, 2022
But Sergei Rudskoi, a senior general, suggested a considerably reduced ‘main goal’ of controlling Donbas, an eastern region already partly held by Russian proxies.
His surprise statement came as a Western official reported that a seventh Russian general, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, had died in Ukraine and that a colonel had been ‘deliberately’ killed by his own demoralised men.
Complicating Moscow’s challenges, invasion troops were facing a counteroffensive in Kherson, the only major Ukrainian city under Russian control.
Flames and smoke rise from a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022
Firefighters battle a blaze following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022
A man recovers items from a burning shop following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 25
XX
Children sit in a refugee center in Nadarzyn, near Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, March 25, 2022. Millions of refugees have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries to escape the invasion
Refugees and volunteers have lunch together at the Kust volunteer center of Dnipro in the restaurant in Dnipro, Ukraine on March 25, 2022
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the Ukrainian people, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 25, 2022
Visiting Rzeszow, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Ukraine, Biden praised Ukraine’s ‘incredible’ resistance, comparing the conflict to a bigger version of communist China’s 1989 crushing of protests in Tiananmen Square.
Biden told soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division that the struggle in eastern Europe represents a historic ‘inflection point’.
‘Are democracies going to prevail… or are autocracies going to prevail? And that’s really what’s at stake,’ Biden said.
The US leader was briefed on the humanitarian situation, with more than 3.7 million refugees fleeing Ukraine, most of them into Poland.
Earlier, he ended a trip to Brussels for meetings with Western allies by announcing new measures to help the European Union shed dependence on imported Russian energy.
The plan is part of a sea change in the West, which for years has shrunk from direct confrontation with the Kremlin, but now seeks to make Putin a pariah.
Smoke and flames rise over the port of Berdyansk, located in the south of Ukraine and occupied by Russian forces, as Kyiv’s navy claimed to have hit the Orsk – a huge Russian tank-carrier
