KYIV: Russia could do something particularly “cruel” during the upcoming week as Ukraine marks 31 years of independence, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned.
“Russia could try to do something particularly disgusting, particularly cruel,” Zelensky said in his nightly address late Saturday.
“One of the key objectives of the enemy is to humiliate us,” and “to sow despondency, fear and conflict” but “we have to be strong enough to resist all provocation” and “make the occupiers pay for their terror,” he said.
Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday, August 24, will also mark six months since Russia invaded the former Soviet republic.
There has been speculation that Russia will put Ukrainian fighters captured during the siege of Mariupol on trial to coincide with the independence anniversary.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the governor announced a curfew from the evening of August 23 to the morning of August 25.
“We will not allow any provocation by the enemy. Be as vigilant as possible during our independence holiday,” Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram.
Kharkiv has been under regular Russian bombardment for weeks and on Sunday emergency services said two more civilians were killed in overnight strikes.
Four civilians were reported killed by Russian fire in Donetsk, said the region’s pro-Kyiv governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
In Algeria, two Albanian soldiers were injured while trying to stop two Russians and a Ukrainian national from entering a military plant, the country’s defence ministry said late Saturday evening.
One of the suspects allegedly attacked the guards while trying to take photographs of the Gramsh factory in central Albania, which is used for dismantling derelict weapons, the ministry said in a statement.
“In an attempt to escape control, one of the Russian nationals, identified by the initials M.Z., 24, used neuroparalysing spray on the two security guards,” the ministry added.
Two other suspects—a Russian citizen identified as S.T., 33, and Ukrainian national F.A., 25 — were also arrested near the factory.
The two injured Albanian soldiers were taken to a Tirana hospital after sustaining eye injuries, statement said.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said the three individuals were “suspected of espionage”.
The military police, alongside intelligence and anti-terrorism agencies, rushed to the scene to investigate the incident.
Albania has been a Nato member since 2009.
Twelve Ukrainians, including three children, were wounded after Russian forces attacked an apartment block and several houses in the city of Voznesensk, near a key nuclear plant, prosecutors said.
Voznesensk is located about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the nuclear plant at Pivdennoukrainsk, Ukraine’s second largest, and 70 kilometres from Mykolaiv, the regional capital.
The Ukrainian army meanwhile reported Russian attacks in the eastern Donetsk region—which has been partially controlled by Russian proxies since 2014 — saying “fighting is continuing”.
