Ukraine’s foreign minister claimed Sunday that his country had “won the battle” for Kyiv but warned combat will ramp up in Donbas — as chilling photos showed an 8-mile Russian convoy heading toward the region.
Ukrainian officials also reported finding a new mass grave filled with dozens of civilian corpses in the newly liberated village of Buzova outside Kyiv.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba hailed Ukrainian forces for retaking Kyiv and its surrounding area from Russian troops but said the Kremlin is preparing to launch brutal new efforts.
“It’s true to say that Ukraine won the battle for Kyiv. Now, another battle is coming, the battle for Donbas,” Kuleba told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And of course, we are preparing to it, working with our partners to get all necessary weapons, and literally basically everything that one needs to win a battle.”
Kuleba said Ukraine’s military has proven itself to be one of the “strongest” globally.
“I believe it will not be an exaggeration to say that Ukraine proved to have one of the strongest army in the world, maybe the second strongest after the United States,” he said.
“Not in terms of numbers but in terms of the battle experience and capacity to fight. And all we need is state-of-the-art weapons,” he said, calling on NATO to provide more support to defeat Russian forces.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki agreed that Ukraine “essentially won the battle of Kyiv.’’
“They’ve protected their city, and that is because of their bravery, their courage, but it is also because of the supplies, the military equipment, everything we’ve expedited, $1.7 billion’s worth, from the United States,” Psaki claimed on “Fox News Sunday.”
But retired Gen. David Petraeus, who helmed the US operation in its war in Afghanistan till 2010, warned that Ukrainians can expect “quite a fight” from Russian forces preparing for a “massive breakthrough” in eastern Ukraine.
“You can expect more of what we have seen the hallmark of the Russian forces so far has been — indiscipline, not discipline,” Petreaus told “State of the Union.”
“It has been a violation of the Geneva Convention and the law of land warfare and so forth,” he said of Russian troops’ behavior. “We’ve seen repeated evidence of that. And that’s what we’re gonna see more of, I fear, in the days and weeks that lie ahead.”
Concerns of an onslaught on Ukraine’s southeast came as satellite photos emerged of a Russian military convoy heading toward the Donbas region.
The images, taken Friday by Maxar Technologies, showed the 8-mile-long convoy consisting of hundreds of armored vehicles and trucks carrying artillery and equipment.
The developments came as:
- Russian forces fired rockets into Luhansk in the Donbas region, as well as Dnipro further west, where an airport was completely destroyed and at least five people wounded. Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Gaidai said a school and an apartment building were attacked in the area’s city of Sievierodonetsk, although, “fortunately, no casualties.”
- The governor of Kharkiv said bombardments over the weekend had killed 10 civilians and wounded 11 others in the region. “In the course of the day, the occupiers bombarded the civil infrastructure at Balakliya, Pesochin, Zolochiv and Dergachi,” Gov. Oleg Synegubov posted on Telegram. “At the current time we know of 10 people killed, including a child, and 11 wounded.” Attacks also continued in Mariupol.
- National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned that the US expects Russia’s new top general in Ukraine, who is known as the “Butcher of Syria,’’ to carry out further brutal attacks on civilians. “This particular general has a resume that includes brutality against civilians in other theaters, in Syria, and we can expect more of the same in this theater,” Sullivan told CNN, referring to Army Gen. Alexander Dvornikov. But “no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine,” Sullivan added.
- Sullivan said Biden has no plans to travel to Kyiv. His comment came the day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson went to Ukraine’s capital to show solidarity, with Kuleba hailing the PM’s visit as “not only about symbolism, it’s also about sending a message of confidence in Ukraine. … It’s very, very important for us in this critical time, and we see who [are] real friends of Ukraine.” Still, Kuleba added, “Everyone decide by himself to come into Kyiv or not’’ because of safety concerns.
- A top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his boss would likely meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a few weeks — after the battle for Donbas plays out. “Ukraine is ready for big battles,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential aide. “Ukraine must win them, particularly in Donbas. And after that, Ukraine will get a more powerful negotiating position, from which it can dictate certain conditions. After that, the presidents will meet. That may take two or three weeks.”
- The Kremlin is trying to replenish its troops with Russian soldiers discharged from military service since 2012, as its losses continue to mount since it invaded Ukraine in late February, according to British intelligence.
Zelensky, in his nightly address Sunday, said Russians had become “monsters.
“When people lack the courage to admit their mistakes, apologize, adapt to reality, learn, they turn into monsters,’’ the Ukraine president said. “And when the world ignores it, the monsters decide as if it is the world that has to adapt to them.
“Ukraine will stop all this. Nothing will help Russian cowardice. There will come a day when they will have to admit everything, admit the truth.”
With Post Wires
