Zelensky: Russian operation in Kharkiv region aims to weaken Ukrainian forces

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in his nightly video address, Ukrinform reports, citing the president's website.

"The Commander-in-Chief reported on the situation at the front. The Kharkiv directions: Vovchansk, Lyptsi, Kupiansk. We are deterring Russian pressure. I thank each brigade, each unit. We also continue to focus on the Donetsk directions, first of all, the Pokrovsk one — where the situation is the most difficult, with the highest number of battles. In fact, the entire Kharkiv operation of the occupier is aimed at weakening our overall forces along the front, and, at the same time, it is an attempt to strengthen its propaganda — propaganda aimed also at world leaders," Zelensky said.

According to him, Russia wants to show that they are the ones who determine what happens next in the war.

"Our task is to thwart Russia's attempt to expand the war and to prevent the occupier from breaking both the frontline and our diplomacy — our way of bringing a just peace closer," Zelensky said.

He added that Russian terror would not go unpunished.

"Step by step, we are making sure that the Russian state feels the consequences and the price of its evil. I thank everyone who works for this, who produces our drones, our weapons. And everyone who uses them — and uses them accurately. Thank you. Glory to Ukraine," Zelensky said.