Topics: Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine, Russia
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that a major Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine has begun.
After Russia's failed attempts to secure the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, the Kremlin said the capture of the Donbas is its main goal of war.
The Donbas is Ukraine’s mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland in the east.
In a video address, Zelenskyy said: "Now we can already state that the Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time.
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"No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight.
"We will defend ourselves. We will do it every day."
The announcement came as Russia hit the western city of Lviv and numerous other targets across Ukraine, in what appeared to be an intensified bid to grind down the country’s defences.
At least seven people have been reported killed in the recent missile strikes on Lviv, a city close to the Polish border.
Lviv has been hit with occasional attacks and has become a haven for civilians fleeing the fighting elsewhere, after two months of war.
Lviv has also become a major gateway for Nato-supplied weapons, to which the Kremlin aren't best pleased about.
In other developments, a few thousand Ukrainian troops are said to be holed up at a mammoth steel mill in Mariupol, according to Russia.
Mariupol is the last known pocket of resistance in the devastated southern port city.
Zelenskyy submitted a filled-out questionnaire in the first step toward obtaining membership in the European Union — a desire that has been a source of tension with Moscow for years.
The Russian attack on Lviv hit three military infrastructure facilities and a car shop, according to the region’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyy.
He claimed that a child was also wounded
Mayor Andriy Sadovyi has said that a Lviv hotel sheltering Ukrainians who had fled the fighting in other parts of the country was also badly damaged.
"The nightmare of war has caught up with us even in Lviv," said Lyudmila Turchak, who fled with two children from the eastern city of Kharkiv.
"There is no longer anywhere in Ukraine where we can feel safe."
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click herefor more information
