Kyiv: In a recent interview, Ukraine Prez Zelensky said that Russian troops came very close to capturing him and his family. The revelation came while the president of the war-hit nation interacted with a local magazine recalling the intense early days of the war.
Meanwhile, on Friday Russia confirmed it launched an airstrike on Kyiv during the UN chief visit. “High-precision, long-range air-based weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed the production buildings of the Artyom missile and space enterprise in Kyiv,” the ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict in Ukraine.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said Russians continue using heavy weapons. “Before shelling the hospital, the number of wounded was 170, now — over 600. Russian forces killed more than 20,000 people,” he said.
In a continuous aid program, Poland has provided more than 200 T-72 tanks to Ukraine. As per the reports of the Information Radio Agency (IAR), in addition to the tanks, Poland has also deployed several hundred infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. Warsaw has already shipped seven billion Polish zlotys worth of equipment to Ukraine. Self-propelled howitzers 2C1 and multiple rocket launchers are among the weapons that Ukraine received from Poland.
Forces from NATO and other north Atlantic nations will take part in a series of military exercises across Europe in the coming weeks as western countries seek to deter Russian aggression. The exercises, backed by aircraft, tanks, artillery and armoured assault vehicles, will take place in Finland, Poland, North Macedonia and along the Estonian-Latvian border. They will include troops from NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, which includes non-NATO members Finland and Sweden.