Zelensky: Ukrainian forces are holding out in two major cities

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces were repelling continuous attacks on the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region and were holding their positions in nearby Soledar in very difficult conditions.

Zelensky added in his videotaped speech Sunday evening, “Bakhmut is steadfast in spite of everything… Although most of the city was destroyed by the Russian raids, our soldiers are repelling the continuous Russian attempts to advance”.

“Solidar is steadfast despite the massive destruction, and things are very difficult,” he said.

Zelensky again criticized what he said was Russia’s lack of respect for the truce it declared on the occasion of Christmas for Orthodox Christians by launching attacks on Ukrainian cities.

“The Russians bombed Kherson with incendiary ammunition just after Christmas,” Zelensky said, referring to a city in the south from which Russian forces withdrew in November.

Zelensky added, “Raids on Kramatorsk and other cities in the Donbas, on civilian targets, at the same time that Moscow announced a supposed silence on the part of its army”.