World News | US Official: Ukraine Resistance Slows Russia

Washington, Apr 30 (AP) A senior US defence official has said the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of the Ukrainian resistance.

“We also assess that because of this slow and uneven progress, again, without perfect knowledge of every aspect of the Russian plan, we do believe and assess that they are behind schedule in what they were trying to accomplish in the Donbas,” the official said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the US military's assessment.

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He said the US believes the Russians are “at least several days behind where they wanted to be” as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east.

As the troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been “slow and uneven, and certainly not decisive in any, in any event”, the official said.

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Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.

“The constant brutal bombardments, the constant Russian strikes on infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people. Therefore, the defense of our land, the defense of our people, is literally a fight for life,” he said late Friday in his nightly video address to the nation.

He said the cities and towns of the Donbas will survive only if Ukraine remains standing. “If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones. As they did with Mariupol.”

Zelenskyy said Mariupol, once one of the most developed cities in the region, was now a “Russian concentration camp among the ruins.”

In Kharkiv, a major city to the north, the situation was “brutal” but Ukrainian troops and intelligence agents “have had important tactical successes,” he said without elaborating.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 20% of the city's residential buildings have been so badly damaged that it will be impossible to restore them.

Zelenskyy said rescuers were still going through the rubble in Kyiv after Thursday's missile strikes. He expressed his condolences to the family of Vira Hyrych, who was killed in the bombardment. He said she was the 23rd journalist killed in the war.

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Dubai: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears to have dismissed the need for the United Nations to help secure humanitarian corridors out of Ukraine's besieged cities, striking a tough line a day after the UN chief toured war-wracked Kyiv with that very aim.

As an interviewer at Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV tried to ask Lavrov about UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians, Lavrov cut him off.

“There is no need. I know, I know,” an irritated Lavrov said. “There is no need for anybody to provide help to open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem...humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals,” he said.

“We appreciate the interest of the secretary-general to be helpful,” he added. “(We have) explained...what is the mechanism for them to monitor how the humanitarian corridors are announced.”

During the hourlong interview, Lavrov also accused the West of sabotaging Russia's peace talks with Ukraine. He claimed that thorny negotiations in Istanbul last month had been progressing on issues of Russian territorial claims and security guarantees until Ukrainian diplomats backtracked at the behest of the West.

“We are stuck because of their desire to play games all the time,” Lavrov said. “Because of the instructions they get Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to accelerate the negotiations.”

When asked about the risks of war spilling into neighbouring Moldova after a series of explosions rattled a breakaway border region within the country, Lavrov struck an ominous tone.

“Moldova should worry about their own future,” he said. “Because they're being pulled into NATO.” (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)