Russia rejects Ukraine peace plan and ramps up attack on liberated city

Kyiv/Bakhmut:

The recently liberated southern city of Kherson in Ukraine faced heavy mortar and artillery attacks from Russian troops across the Dnipro River, while the Kremlin rejected a Ukrainian peace plan and demanded that Kiev accept the annexation of four regions.

Kherson continues to be bombarded by Russian troops who had retreated to the east bank of the river when the city was recaptured last month in a major victory for Ukraine.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the shelling hit a hospital’s maternity ward on Wednesday, though no one was injured. Staff and patients were transferred to a shelter, Tymoshenko said in a Telegram post.

“It was terrifying… the explosions started abruptly, the window handle started to tear off… oh, my hands are still shaking,” said Olha Prysidko, a new mom. “When we got to the basement, the shelling wasn’t over yet. Not even a minute.’

Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians.

Zelensky, in a video address, urged Ukrainians to hug loved ones, tell friends they appreciate them, support colleagues, thank their parents and spend more time with their children.

“We have not lost our humanity, although we endured terrible months,” he said. “And we are not going to lose that, even if we have a difficult year ahead of us.”

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Kiev and its Western allies have denounced Russia’s actions as imperialist-style land grabbing. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks of a “special military operation” to demilitarize his neighboring country.

Severe sanctions have been imposed on Russia over the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions from their homes, devastated cities and shook the global economy, driving up energy and food prices.

Russian gas exports to Europe via pipelines collapsed to a post-Soviet low in 2022 as its largest customer halted imports due to the conflict in Ukraine and a major pipeline was damaged by mysterious explosions, Gazprom data and Reuters calculations show .

‘Today’s reality’

There is still no prospect of talks to end the war.

Zelensky is strongly pushing for a 10-point peace plan that provides for Russia to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and withdraw all its troops.

But Moscow rejected it on Wednesday, reiterating that Kiev must accept Russia’s annexation of the four regions: Luhansk and Donetsk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.

There can be no peace plan “that does not take into account the current reality regarding Russian territory, with the accession of four regions to Russia,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Zelensky’s idea of ​​driving Russia out of eastern Ukraine and Crimea with Western aid and making Moscow pay reparations to Kiev was an “illusion”, the RIA news agency reported.

TASS quoted Lavrov as saying that Russia would continue to build its military strength and technological capabilities in Ukraine. He said Moscow’s mobilized troops had undergone “serious training” and while many were now on the ground, the majority were not yet at the front.

Zelensky told parliament to stay united and praised the Ukrainians for helping the West “find itself again”.

“Our national colors today are an international symbol of the courage and intransigence of the whole world,” he said in an annual speech behind closed doors.

Kherson attacks

On the front, Russia has shelled more than 25 settlements around Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Wednesday. The Kherson region, at the mouth of the Dnipro, serves as a gateway to Russia-annexed Crimea.

Heavy fighting continued around the Ukrainian-occupied city of Bakhmut, in eastern Donetsk province, and in the north, around the towns of Svatove and Kreminna in Luhansk, where Ukrainian troops are trying to break through Russian defenses.

The British Ministry of Defense said Russia had likely reinforced the Kreminna section of the frontline as it is logistically important and relatively vulnerable after the Ukrainian advance further west.

Kyiv-based military analyst Oleh Zhdanov noted that the city and region of Kharkiv also came under heavy attack, damaging a regional gas pipeline.

Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a Telegram report that the city had been attacked twice, “presumably” by Iranian Shahed drones, five of which were reported separately by Ukraine’s eastern air command over the city of Dnipro.

Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports.

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