Zelensky: recapture Mariupol, Melitopol and Kherson next target
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky has announced new attacks on areas occupied by Russian troops in Ukraine. “Maybe it seems that after a string of victories there has been silence, but it is not silence,” he said in his daily video speech on Sunday. Rather, it is preparing for the next offensive, which aims to recapture Kherson, Mariupol and Melitopol, he went on to explain.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine will no longer focus solely on the areas it controlled before the Russian invasion in February. Also areas of the Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country and the cities in Crimea, which were annexed by Russia in 2014, must be recaptured. “Because all of Ukraine should be free.” Melitopol, one of the cities targeted by the Ukrainian troops according to Zelensky, is also known as the ‘gate to Crimea’.
After the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russia took over a lot of territory in the south and east of the country. Moscow still occupies about 125,000 square kilometers, about one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula.