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Ukraine braces itself for more attacks by Russia
STORY: Ukraine is bracing for new attacks from Russia with leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy warning late Thursday of ‘battles ahead.’He saidthe situation in the south and southwestern Donbas region remained ‘extremely difficult’, and also said again that Russia was building up forces near the besieged port city of Mariupol.”Also, in the Donbas, in Mariupol, in the Kharkiv direction, the Russian troops are accumulating the potential for strikes – powerful strikes. We will defend ourselves. We will do everything we can to stop the occupiers and cleanse our land of their evil and senseless chimeras.”And in a rare sign of internal dissent, Zelenskiy also announced he was firing two generals on the grounds they were traitors. “Those high-ranking servicemen, who have been prevented from deciding where their homeland is, who break the military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people for the protection of our state, its freedom and independence, will inevitably be deprived of high military ranks.”Earlier on Thursday a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv hit gas pipes, cutting off supplies to tens of thousands of people there. Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, has suffered some of the heaviest shelling since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a month ago.Zelenskiy however said his forces had pushed back the Russian military from the capital Kyiv and the nearby city of Chernihiv.At talks this week, Moscow said it would reduce offensives in both cities as a goodwill gesture and focus on what it called ‘liberating’ Donbas.After weeks of constant shelling, the city of Mariupol has no running water, gas or electricity – another obstacle for those who remain as they fight to survive.A spokesperson for Mariupol’s mayor said on Monday nearly 5000 people had already been killed.Ukrainian authorities were hoping to evacuate more residents from Mariupol after Russia agreed to open a humanitarian corridor on Friday, but several previous deals have collapsed.Russia says it is carrying out a ‘special operation’ to disarm and ‘denazify’ its neighbour.But it denies Kyiv’s accusations that they are targeting civilians. Western countries say Putin’s real aim was to topple Ukraine’s government.Peace negotiations are set to resume by video conference on Friday.