Kherson falls but Zelenskyy sure Ukraine will hold off Russia

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asserted in his latest Facebook address that Ukraine will continue to defend itself against Russian forces encroaching on major cities a week after President Vladimir Putin mounted the invasion. His statement comes after the fall of Kherson. 

Admitting that the first few days of a full-scale war were extremely difficult, Zelenskyy iterated his belief that Ukrainians were “united, and therefore strong, and therefore we persevered. And so it will continue. We continue to stand”. 

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Further, Zelenskyy claimed, “All lines of our defence are kept. The enemy has no success in any of the strategic directions”. Despite promises of Ukrainian troops holding off Moscow’s progress, Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov of Mariupol, Ukraine’s key southeastern city, said they were surrounded by Russian forces. 

Speaking to CNN, he said, “the situation is quite critical”, and added, “They are destroying our city with all weapons, from artillery, from airplane bombing, from tactical rockets, from multiple launch rocket systems”. 

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy noted that Russia had been forced to change its tactics, saying, “Russia’s missile and bomb strikes on Ukrainian cities are a confession that they have failed to do anything significant on our land”. 

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The president also vowed that Ukraine would prevail against Putin’s invasion, just as it did with “another virus, another disease”, referring to COVID-19. 

So far, Zelenskyy has put up a brave front, even rejecting an offer from the US to evacuate. Instead, he’s chosen to stay back saying he needs ammo, not a ride. Despite his continued confidence in Ukrainian resilience, Russia hasn’t eased up its attacks either targeting Kyiv, the capital of the country. So far, they’ve been able to fend off advances, but Maxar Technology’s satellite images have reported Russian troops amassed at the outskirts and Kyiv witnessed a day of heavy shelling followed by a large explosion in the southwestern part of the city.