Kyiv's forces have recaptured more than 40 towns and villages in southern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said
The United States meanwhile announced a new $400 million security assistance package for Kyiv, which will include defence systems and surface-to-air missiles, as Ukraine is reeling from massive recent Russian airstrikes targeting key infrastructure."The number of Ukrainian flags returning to their rightful place as part of the ongoing defence operation is already dozens.
"We have to go all the way on the battlefield and through diplomacy so that all over our land, along our entire internationally recognised border, our flags -- Ukrainian flags -- are installed," Mr Zelensky said."Together we're building an air shield to protect civilians," Mr Zelensky said on Twitter. Ukrainian officials have so far mostly been wary in public, warning that Russians may still be planning to sow destruction on their way out.
Mr Zelensky himself mentioned Kherson just once in his daily overnight television address. Ukrainian forces were strengthening their positions"step-by-step" in the south, he said."The enemy will make no gifts to us."Kyiv's public wariness may in part reflect its urge to keep its own operations secret as it plans to inflict as much harm as possible on the thousands of Russian troops likely to need to be transferred across the river by ferry.
Russian forces are still holding on to other gains in the south, including a vital land route connecting Russia to the Crimea peninsula it seized in 2014, and cities in the east that they mostly obliterated while capturing them. Ms Meloni, who took office last month, said her government remained committed to defending"the territorial integrity, sovereignty and freedom of Ukraine".Meanwhile, Amnesty International has said Russia has probably committed crimes against humanity by forcibly transferring Ukrainian civilians in Russian-occupied areas of the country to other regions.
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