One death was reported after a strong earthquake occurred across the Balkans

Remarks by a senior Russian military official that Moscow plans to take full control of the eastern Donbass region and the southern part of Ukraine during their new offensive in the country provoked a sharp reaction from Kyiv with the Ukrainian General Staff saying that Russian forces have increased attacks along the front line in the east.

Rustam Minkayev, acting commander of the Central Military District, was quoted by Russian state media as saying on April 22 that full control of southern Ukraine was a strategic goal to allow access to Moldova’s breakaway pro-Russian Transdniest region, which borders Ukraine. .

Minkayev said Russian speakers are being repressed in Transdniester. Moldova and Western leaders say this is not true.

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Minikayev’s comments were the most detailed description yet of Russia’s goals in the second phase of its invasion of Ukraine, and Kyiv highlighted them as an indication that the Kremlin was lying in earlier statements that it had no territorial ambitions.

“They will not stop. The leadership of the Russian Central Military District has declared the next victim of Russian aggression. After taking control of southern Ukraine, Russia is planning to invade Moldova, where they say Russian-speakers are being repressed,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Twitter.

“They stopped hiding it,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in another tweet. Russia has admitted that the goal of the “second phase” of the war is not victory over the legendary Nazis, but merely the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is.

To achieve the goals set by Minkayev, Russia will have to push hundreds of kilometers west beyond the existing lines and bypass the major Ukrainian cities of Mykolaiv and Odessa. The Russian occupation of the region would cut off the entire Ukrainian coast on the Black Sea.

Kyiv has warned several times that Transdniester could be used as a staging area for Russian operations against Ukraine or Moldova, which share a common border and history with NATO member Romania.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address late on April 22 that the leader’s comments show that Moscow wants to invade other countries.

He also said that the allies had finally delivered the weapons ordered by Kyiv, adding that the weapons would help save thousands of lives.

“We will defend ourselves for as long as possible…but all nations like us who believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us,” he said.

Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian forces had intensified attacks along the front line after moving troops away from the southeastern port of Mariupol.

Mariupol’s mayor’s office said Russian forces bombed an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters inside the factory, the city’s last known pocket of resistance.

“Every day they throw several bombs at Azovstal,” said Petro Andryushenko, advisor to the mayor of Mariupol. “The fighting, the bombing and the bombing does not stop.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said it was ready for a ceasefire to allow trapped civilians a chance to get out, but only if Ukraine’s soldiers surrender.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Irina Vereshuk, said there was “a possibility” that a humanitarian corridor outside the besieged port city of Mariupol would open on April 23.

“Watch the official announcements tomorrow morning. If all goes well, I will confirm,” she said in an online letter to those waiting to be evacuated.

Zelensky said Russia had rejected a proposed truce in Mariupol on the occasion of Orthodox Easter this weekend.

The Russian Defense Ministry in the Kharkiv region said its forces had captured a large arms depot. It also reported that dozens of targets were hit in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions on April 22.

But a senior NATO official who briefed reporters on April 22 said Kharkiv had turned into a “very difficult challenge” for Russian forces.

“Ukrainian citizens in Kharkiv showed great ability to defend themselves in several counterattacks. The fighting there was very strong,” the official said, adding that Ukrainians are in control of the city.

The official also said that Russia is expected to send more than 1,000 mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a private military company, to fight in eastern Ukraine.

“We have already seen that the Russian private military company Wagner operates in eastern Ukraine, and we expect that they will send more mercenaries, including high-ranking members of the organization,” the official said at the press conference.

The official said Moscow is recruiting mercenaries, including foreign fighters, to make up for losses within its army, but it is unclear which of these groups will be incorporated into Russian units in Ukraine and how this will affect their combat effectiveness.

The official added that Russia’s current actions in Donbass, where its forces are trying to advance towards Kramatorsk, indicate more aggressive operations in the future.

As fighting intensifies, the Russian government and the United Nations have announced that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week in a bid to discuss peace in Ukraine.

Before the announcement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said discussions had stalled, but Vladimir Medinsky, Putin’s aide and Russia’s chief negotiator in talks with Ukraine, confirmed reports that he had held several lengthy talks on April 22 with the head of the Ukrainian delegation, but did not go into the details.

Meanwhile, the UN human rights office in Geneva said there is mounting evidence that Russia’s actions in Ukraine may amount to war crimes.

She added that in the town of Bucha near Kyiv, a United Nations mission documented the killing of 50 civilians there, including summary executions.

Russian officials denied that their soldiers killed any civilians there and accused Ukraine of the atrocities.

Reported by Ricard Jozoyak Reuters, AFP, CNN, BBC, and IP

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