{"id":42475,"date":"2022-04-18T21:03:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T21:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/04\/18\/russian-offensive-in-eastern-ukraine-has-begun-zelenskyy-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:03:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:03:56","slug":"russian-offensive-in-eastern-ukraine-has-begun-zelenskyy-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2022\/04\/18\/russian-offensive-in-eastern-ukraine-has-begun-zelenskyy-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine has begun, Zelenskyy says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LVIV, Ukraine \u2014 Russia launched its long-feared, full-scale offensive to take control of Ukraine\u2019s east<\/a>, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow we can already state that the Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time,\u201d he said in a video address. Zelenskyy said a \u201csignificant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Donbas is Ukraine\u2019s mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland in the east, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for the past eight years and have declared two independent republics that have been recognized by Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent weeks, Kremlin declared the capture of the Donbas its main goal of the war after its attempt to storm Kyiv failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight,\u201d Zelenskyy vowed. \u201cWe will defend ourselves. We will do it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after an airstrike hit a tire shop in Lviv, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022. Russian missiles hit the city of Lviv in western Ukraine on Monday, killing at least six people, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow’s troops stepped up strikes on infrastructure in preparation for an all-out assault on the east. (Mykola Tys\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The announcement from Zelenskyy came as Russia bombarded the western city of Lviv and numerous other targets across Ukraine in what appeared to be an intensified bid to grind down the country\u2019s defenses. At the same time, the Kremlin continued building up its forces in the east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least seven people were reported killed in the missile strikes on Lviv, a city close to the Polish border that has seen only sporadic attacks during almost two months of war and has become a haven for civilians fleeing the fighting elsewhere. To the Kremlin\u2019s increasing anger, Lviv has also become a major gateway for NATO-supplied weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other developments, a few thousand Ukrainian troops, by Russia\u2019s estimate, remained holed up at a mammoth steel mill in Mariupol, the last known pocket of resistance in the devastated southern port city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Zelenskyy submitted a filled-out questionnaire in the first step toward obtaining membership in the European Union \u2014 a desire that has been a source of tension with Moscow for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\t