Ukraine affirmed this Thursday that it carried out a commando operation in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, raising a flag in this territory considered by the Kremlin as a stronghold, a symbolic success on Independence Day.
“The enemy suffered losses among his men and equipment was destroyed. And the national flag flew again in the Ukrainian Crimea,” Ukrainian military intelligence said on Telegram.
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The source did not specify the mission of these special forces units, but stressed that they arrived by sea, disembarking near the towns of Olenivka and Mayak, in the west of the peninsula, from where they later left “without losses.” “All the objectives and tasks were accomplished.
At the end of the special operation, the Ukrainian defenders left the place without losses,” Ukrainian military intelligence said.which does not always comment publicly on the operations carried out in occupied territories.
The day before, he claimed responsibility for the destruction of a surface-to-air missile system in the same area. Ukraine has vowed to liberate all of its territory occupied by Russia since its February 2022 invasion, as well as Crimea it annexed in 2014.
The operation and the demand for the raising of the Ukrainian flag on the peninsula acquired a symbolic aspect as it took place on Ukraine’s Independence Day.
“Free town”
“With Olena, (wife of the head of state, NDLR) we have honored the memory of the defenders who fell in combat for our country,” President Volodimir Zelensky said on Telegram, after visiting the Saint Sophia Cathedral in central Kiev.
Dressed, as usual, in khaki, the Ukrainian president laid a bouquet next to his wife, Olena, in front of a wall with portraits of soldiers killed at the front.
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“We remember all those who gave their lives for freedom and independence, for the free future of Ukraine,” declared the president, urging his fellow citizens “not to lose confidence in these difficult times.”
This year, Ukraine’s Independence Day fell a year and a half after Russia’s invasion of the former Soviet republic began on February 24, 2022, against which Kiev launched a counteroffensive in June.
“The party of a free people. The party of strong people. The party of dignified people. The party of equal people,” Zelensky said in a statement.
This Thursday morning, Kiev residents were walking along Khreshchatyk Avenue, the main thoroughfare in Kiev, some taking photos with the exposed Russian tanks and others wearing the famous “vyshyvanka”, wide, embroidered shirts that have become a symbol of national unity against the invasion.
Ten wounded in Dnipro
A festive atmosphere that contrasted with the reality of the fighting, hundreds of kilometers east and south of kyiv.
In the city of Dnipro, in the center-east of the country, a bombardment left at least ten injuredof which three were hospitalized, informed the regional governor, Serguii Lisak. The person in charge published several photos on Telegram, showing destroyed buildings, broken windows and the ground full of rubble.
Further south, in Kherson, a town retaken in November by the Ukrainian army but which continues to be a frequent target of Russian fire, A seven-year-old girl was injured “in the back, arms and legs” in a shelling “in the center of the city,” regional governor Oleksander Prokudin said.
On Thursday, DTEK, a private electricity operator, denounced a Russian bombardment against one of its thermal power plants, which the company said had already been the target of other attacks by Moscow.
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And on the diplomatic front, Norway will supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, Norwegian media announced. Last weekend, the Netherlands and Denmark announced that they will also deliver those aircraft to kyiv.
After having visited several European countries, The Ukrainian president was to receive his Portuguese counterpart, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in the capital this Thursday.
AFP
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