Zelenskyy: Russian troops control 20% of Ukraine’s territory
Kyiv, Jun 2 (EFE).- Invading Russian troops have occupied around 20% of Ukraine’s territory, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday.
In an address to Luxembourg’s parliament, the Ukrainian leader said Russia had seized control of 125,000 square kilometers, an area greater than Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg combined, the Ukrinform news agency reported.
He added that before the Russian invasion on February 24, Moscow’s forces already controlled 43,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which the Kremlin annexed in 2014, and areas of the eastern Donbas.
The current frontline extends over 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), Zelenskyy said.
“We are fighting against practically the entire Russian army,” the Ukrainian president added. “The entire Russian armed forces are involved in the fighting.”
He said Russian troops had entered 3,620 towns and villages since its invasion, of which around 1,017 have been liberated by the Ukrainian army.
The latest stage of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine has seen heavy clashes in the Donbas region, where an average of 100 Ukrainian soldiers are killed each day, the president has said.
Fighting is particularly intense in Luhansk, where Russian troops are pushing to wrest full control of the city of Severodonetsk, according to local governor Serhiy Hadai. EFE
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