Russia to ‘intensify’ fighting, Zelensky warns

GBNews24 Desk//

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy predicted Russia will escalate its attacks this week as European Union leaders consider whether to back Kyiv’s bid to join the bloc and Moscow presses its campaign to win control of the country’s east.

“Obviously, this week we should expect from Russia an intensification of its hostile activities,” Zelenskiy said in his Sunday nightly video address. “We are preparing. We are ready,” he added.

Ukraine applied to join the EU four days after Russian troops poured across its border in February. The EU’s executive, the European Commission, on Friday recommended that Ukraine receive candidate status, reports Reuters.

Leaders of the 27-nation union will consider the question at a summit on Thursday and Friday and are expected to endorse Ukraine’s application despite misgivings from some member states. The process could take many years to complete.

The EU’s embrace of Ukraine would interfere with one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated goals when he ordered his troops into Ukraine, to keep Moscow’s southern neighbor outside of the West’s sphere of influence.

Putin on Friday said Moscow had “nothing against” Ukraine’s EU membership, but a Kremlin spokesperson said Russia was closely following Kyiv’s bid, especially in light of increased defense cooperation among member countries.

On the battlefield, Russian forces are trying to take complete control of the eastern Donbas region, parts of which were already held by Russian-backed separatists before the Feb 24 invasion.

A prime target of Moscow’s eastern assault is the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk. Russia said on Sunday it had seized Metyolkine, a village on the outskirts, and Russian state news agency TASS reported that many Ukrainian fighters had surrendered there. Ukraine’s military said Russia had “partial success” in the area.

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian TV that a Russian attack on Toshkivka, 35km (20 miles) south of Sievierodonetsk, also “had a degree of success”.