Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky warns ‘no time to waste’ as Ukraine’s army chief says frontline situation ‘tense’

Volodymyr Zelensky has told his allies there is no more time to waste on aid and critical assistance packages for Ukraine as Russian attacks only continue to surge.

“Over the last week, Russian terrorists used nearly 130 “Shahed” drones against Ukraine; fortunately, we were able to intercept the vast majority of them. More than 80 Russian missiles and nearly 700 guided aerial bombs were also used,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address.

“Rhetoric does not protect the skies. Thoughts do not limit the production of terrorist missiles and drones,” he added.

He pointed out that sanctions against Russia can “still be circumvented” while Ukraine has to wait for months to receive vital assistance packages, in addition to waiting for a vote in the US Congress.

This “indicates that terrorists’ self-confidence is also growing by the month”, Mr Zelensky said.

“There is no more time to waste. Wherever life is threatened by terror, it must be protected through real action. Every effort must be made to prevent the evil of war from spreading throughout the world, whether in Europe, the Middle East, or elsewhere,” he said.

More civilians died across Ukraine Sunday as analysts warned that delays in U.S. military assistance would see Kyiv struggle to fight off Russian offensives.

One man was Sunday killed after a Russian drone hit the truck he was driving in the Sumy region, the local prosecutor’s office said.

Officials in the Kharkiv region also said Sunday that they had retrieved the bodies of a 61-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man killed by a Russian strike the previous day. Ten Russian Shahed-type drones were shot down over the Kharkiv region overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said Sunday.

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Delays in Western military assistance would increasingly hamper Ukraine’s ability to push back Russian advances, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, warned.

In its report, the ISW said that Russian forces were prioritising grinding, tactical gains with operational-level efforts focusing on the cities of Lyman, Chasiv Yar, and Pokrovsk.

“The Russian military command likely assesses that Ukrainian forces will be unable to defend against current and future Russian offensive operations due to delays in or the permanent end of US military assistance,” the think tank said.

In an earlier update on Saturday, Ukraine’s military chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukraine’s battlefield situation in the industrial east had “significantly worsened in recent days,” as warming weather allowed Russian forces to launch a fresh push along several stretches of the more than 1,000km (620-mile) -long front line.

He added that Russian forces had been “actively attacking” Ukrainian positions near the cities of Lyman, Bakhmut and Pokrovsk, and beginning to launch tank assaults as drier, warmer spring weather made it easier for heavy vehicles to move across previously muddy terrain.

More civilians died across Ukraine yesterday as experts warned that delays in US military assistance would see Kyiv struggle to fight off Russian offensives.

A total of four people – all civilians – were killed in parts of Ukraine in separate Russian attacks.

One man was killed after a Russian drone hit the truck he was driving in the Sumy region, the local prosecutor’s office said yesterday. Elsewhere, a 67-year-old woman was killed after shelling hit an apartment block in the Donetsk region, said governor Vadym Filashkin.

Officials in the Kharkiv region also said yesterday that they had retrieved the bodies of a 61-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man killed by a Russian strike the previous day.

Meanwhile, shelling in the Russian-occupied Kherson region killed two civilians on the same day, said Moscow-installed leader Vladimir Saldo. Ukrainian drones were also reported in Russia’s Krasnodar and Belgorod regions and over the Black Sea, the Russian defence ministry said.

In the Russian onslaught, Ukrainian Air Force said 10 Russian Shahed-type drones were shot down over the Kharkiv region overnight yesterday.

Ukrainian refugees fleeing the horrors of war to find sanctuary in British homes were sent to live with suspected gangsters under the government’s flagship Homes for Ukraine scheme, The Independent can reveal.

In the worst cases, Ukrainian families and individuals “just disappeared”, according to one council worker, while others were forced to work for their hosts or were charged rent. In one stark example, a couple with a young child were sent to live with a convicted paedophile.

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Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov said he visited Ukrainian units on the eastern front yesterday and described the situation as “tense”, with Russia trying to make headway in areas west of Bakhmut.

“Visited combat units in the eastern direction. The situation is tense. The enemy is trying to advance deep into the positions of the Defence Forces, concentrating on a breakthrough west of Bakhmut,” he said.

The defence minister added: “Despite the numerical superiority of the enemy, we effectively disrupt these plans thanks to the courage, training, and professionalism of the defenders, who successfully use modern technological systems in opposition to the enemy, who tries to gain an advantage through manpower.”

The war has escalated in recent weeks with Russia staging three massive air strikes on Ukrainian power plants and substations, raising fears over the resilience of an energy system that was hobbled in the war’s first winter.

President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians in his address last night: “The situation at the front during such a hot war is always difficult. But these days – and especially on the Donetsk front – it’s getting harder.”

The Ukrainian leader has warned the Kremlin may be preparing to launch a big offensive in late spring or summer.

Russian forces are eyeing capturing the town of Chasiv Yar in less than a month, a high ground area in eastern Ukraine which is set to become the hottest point of fighting in the war, top Ukrainian commander said.

Ukrainian Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russia was focussing its efforts in the west of occupied Bakhmut to try to capture Chasiv Yar before moving towards the Kramatorsk city. The top Ukrainian commander had warned this weekend that the situation in the east – where most of the heavy warfare with military forces is concentrated – had deteriorated.

“The threat remains relevant, taking into account the fact that the higher Russian military leadership has set its troops the task of capturing Chasiv Yar by 9 May,” he said, without elaborating.

9 May is also celebrated as the date Moscow marked the Soviet victory in the second World War.

Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region lies 5-10km (3-6 miles) from Bakhmut, the devastated city captured by Russian forces in May last year after months of bloody fighting.

Kyiv’s brigades were holding back the assaults near Chasiv Yar for now and had been reinforced with ammunition, drones and electronic warfare devices, he said in a statement on Telegram.

The bishop for Ukraine in London has urged the UK and the US to “honour their pledges” and not forget that Ukraine is fighting Russia to save the “rule of law and democracy”.

Two years ago, Russia launched a devastating full-scale invasion of Ukraine, capturing nearly a quarter of the country and displacing more than 10 million people. There are now at least six million Ukrainian refugees in Europe, including around 250,000 in the UK.

“This is not just a battle for Ukraine,” the Catholic bishop told The Independent. “It is the battle for rule of law, democracy and freedoms that we have all taken advantage of. That we stand to lose.

One of the good decisions made by Michael Gove, who as housing and communities secretary was responsible for the Homes for Ukraine scheme when it was set up two years ago, was to allow the project to be driven from the bottom up.

The scheme was an expression of solidarity from the British people to the Ukrainian people, and the role of the British government, as Mr Gove saw it, was to enable and support it – but mainly to get out of the way.

It was, and remains, an overwhelming success. More than 180,000 visas have been issued to Ukrainian refugees through the sponsorship route. The problems with the scheme, exclusively reported by The Independent, in no way undermine the policy in principle – on the contrary, they argue for improved safeguards in order to ensure continuing high levels of public support for it.

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A draft peace agreement that Russia and Ukraine negotiated in the early days of the war could serve as a starting point for talks to end the fighting, the Kremlin said Friday, reviving a proposal that Ukraine had rejected.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the draft document that was discussed in Istanbul in March 2022 could be “the basis for starting negotiations.” At the same time, he noted that the possible future talks would need to take into account the “new realities.”

“There have been many changes since then, new entities have been included in our constitution,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

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