KYIV – August 21 (ONLINE) President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged vigilance ahead of Wednesday’s celebrations of 31 years of Ukraine’s independence from Soviet rule, as shells rained down near Europe’s biggest nuclear plant and Russian forces struck in the south and east.
Ukrainians must not allow Moscow to “spread despondency and fear” ahead of the Aug. 24 events, which also mark six months since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Saturday.
“We must all be aware that this week Russia could try to do something particularly ugly, something particularly vicious,” Zelenskiy said.
In Russia, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine was killed in a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow on Saturday evening, Russian state investigators said on Sunday.
They said Darya Dugina, daughter of prominent ideologue Alexander Dugin, was killed after a suspected explosive device detonated on the Toyota Land Cruiser she was travelling in, and they were considering “all versions” when it came to working out who was responsible.
The nightly curfew in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, regularly hit by Russian shelling, will be extended for the entire day on Wednesday, regional Governor Oleh Synehub told residents on the Telegram messaging app.
As the war that has killed thousands and forced millions to flee heads for its half-year mark, Ukrainian military and local officials reported more Russian strikes overnight on targets in the east and south of the country.
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