President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky believes that it is the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that the Russian military want to destroy in the first place, given the intensity of fighting in the region. He stated this in an address on the 50th day of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine..

“For 50 days of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, they showed that it is the Donbass for Russia that is the main target. It is the Donbass that Russia wants to destroy in the first place. It is the Lugansk and Donetsk regions that Russian troops are destroying as if they want only stones to remain of them.. And so that there are no people left at all. They forcibly take the inhabitants of these areas into their army. They throw them into the most terrible battles, literally in the forehead of our defense,” Zelensky said..

He also noted that the fighting in Ukraine is already reminiscent of World War II..

“Some are still arguing how cruel sanctions against the Russian Federation should be, but what is there to discuss when Russian troops are already repeating on our soil what Europe saw only during the Second World War,” the president stressed..

Zelensky mentioned that at the beginning of the war, the occupiers "

“Everyone sympathized. Many advised to leave the country, advised to actually surrender. But they did not know us and did not know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom, our ability to live the way we want it.. And not people who govern in such a way that for the first time in their life their army sees toilet bowls except in the occupied territory and steals home even ordinary household appliances,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The president also reiterated that the Russian military would be responsible for everything they did in Ukraine..

Zelensky signed decrees on awarding 221 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, of which 34 posthumously, as well as two employees of the State Special Communications Service. He awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine to Major Alexander Vasilievich Kukurba, Head of Intelligence of the Headquarters of the 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.