WRAP: Defiant Zelenskiy pledges powerful response to Russia on eve of war's six-month milestone

Record ID: 1685907

  • Title: WRAP: Defiant Zelenskiy pledges powerful response to Russia on eve of war's six-month milestone
  • Date: 23rd August 2022
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 23, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, SERGEI LAVROV, SAYING: "I cannot judge whether it was an act of intimidation or a settling of scores. I believe that this was a barbaric crime for which there can be no forgiveness. And those who organised it... as I understand it, the FSB has already established the facts that are now being investigated. The investigation, I hope, will be quickly completed, and, as a result of this investigation, of course, there can be no mercy for the organisers, instigators, and perpetrators (of the crime)."
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2022 16:50
  • Keywords: RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR ZELENSKIY
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA004018023082022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A WRAP AND CONTAINS NO NEW MATERIAL
    Six months on from Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, with thousands of deaths and widespread destruction of cities, the conflict is locked in a stalemate.
    Russia launched on Feb. 24 what it calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise its smaller neighbour and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and its Western backers accuse Moscow of waging an imperial-style war of conquest.
    On the eve of the milestone on Tuesday (August 23), a memorial service to Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue who was killed in a suspected car bomb attack, took place in Moscow.
    Russia's Federal Security Service has accused Ukraine's secret services of killing Dugina in a car bomb attack near Moscow on August 20 that Russian President Vladimir Putin later described as "evil".
    Ukraine has denied involvement in the attack.
    Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that there can be no mercy for the organisers, instigators, and perpetrators of the murder of Daria Dugina.
    Security was stepped up in Kyiv as the city braced for a surge in Russian attacks and the United States on Tuesday urged its citizens to leave Ukraine in response.
    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Moscow of a powerful response if Russian forces carry out attacks on or around Ukraine's Independence Day.
    Asked at a news conference with visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda about the possibility of a Russian missile strike on Kyiv, he said there was a daily threat of attacks and Ukrainian intelligence was working with foreign intelligence.
    He said the response would be the same for any Ukrainian city that comes under attack from Russia.
    "For me as president, and for every Ukrainian, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Donbas, it is all the same. Ukrainians live there. (and) Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia," Zelenskiy said.
    Russian shelling hit eastern Kharkiv - Ukraine's second-largest city - around dawn on Tuesday, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said. Kharkiv has imposed a two-day curfew over the national holiday.
    Last week, Russian tourists took advantage of the heat and sun on Wednesday, Aug. 17 to enjoy a summer vacation, saying they were not worried by blasts that rocked military bases earlier in the week.
    Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, has always been a popular destination for holidaymakers.
    (Production: Sophie Meyer, Dina Selim)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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