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Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said at a conference on export controls in Washington that Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine along a 1,100-kilometer-long line of conflict.
But she said Ukrainian resistance in Russian-occupied regions is growing, making it harder for Russia to advance beyond the Donbas region in the east, where it has occupied almost the entire Luhansk province but made little progress. in the neighboring province of Donetsk. A peaceful solution is unlikely to be reached, she said.
Ms Haines said it was more likely that the conflict, now in its fifth month, “It remains a serious war in which the Russians will make slow but not great progress.”
“In short, the situation remains very bleak.” said Mrs. Haines.
Russian President Vladimir Putin still intends to take over most of Ukraine, she said, although earlier in the war, Russian troops failed to topple President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government or occupy the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
On Wednesday, Russia launched new attacks. The mayor of Mykolaiv, a town near the Black Sea, said the town was hit by eight Russian missiles that destroyed an apartment building, killing four people and injuring five others.
“There is fighting everywhere,” said Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai. The Russians are occupying the city of Lisichansk as they did before with Sievierodonetsk, he said.
In a virtual speech, President Zelenskyy on Tuesday called Russia a “terrorist state” and called on the UN to send a commission to investigate a deadly rocket attack on a shopping mall in the town of Kremenchuk on Monday. killed at least 18 civilians.
Mr. Zelenskyy said that in any other part of the world, any group that would kill civilians as Russia is doing in Ukraine would be considered a terrorist organization.
“Therefore, what is punished at the level of criminals and criminal organizations should not go unpunished at the level of the state, which has become a terrorist.” he said of the Kremlin.
Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said President Zelenskyy’s speech was intended to win sympathy and more weapons from participants in the NATO summit being held in Madrid.
Mr Polyanskiy also denied allegations that the Kremenchuk shopping mall had been hit, saying it was not close to Russia’s target.
“In reality, there was no attack on the mall.” declared Mr. Polyanskiy. “The Russian armed forces used precision weapons to hit the hangars with Western weapons and ammunition taken from the United States and European countries in the area of the road machinery factory in Kremenchuk.” he added./ VOA
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