Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that the situation on the front line of the war against Russia was “very, very difficult,” and Ukraine’s forces had to do everything they could over the autumn period.
“Reports on each of our frontline sectors, our capabilities, our future capabilities and our specific tasks: The situation is very, very difficult,” he said in his nightly video address, referring to a more than 2-1/2 hour meeting with top commanders.
“Everything that can be done this autumn, everything that we can achieve must be achieved,” he said.
It was the second time in less than a week that Zelensky referred to the need to act quickly in the coming months in terms of military action.
Ukrainian military bloggers have reported in recent days that Russian forces have been advancing on the hilltop town of Vuhledar, which Ukrainian forces have defended over the course of the war, in the south of the Donetsk region.
The popular blog Deepstate quoted Russian reports as saying Russian forces were shelling the town and “their infantry was moving in the city and among high-rise blocks. The Russians have raised their flag in western districts of the city.”
Russian forces have also been advancing slowly for months further north, with the aim of capturing the entire Donbas region, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday that its forces had captured the village of Nelipivka, south of the city of Toretsk, one of Moscow’s targets in the area.
Ukraine’s General Staff made no acknowledgement of the village changing hands, but said Russian forces had launched 10 attacks in and around it.
Zelensky made similar comments about the need for fast military action after meeting US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in New York on Friday.
Zelensky has taken great care to steer clear of controversy and suggestions of preference in the US presidential election and made no reference to the poll in his calls for fast action.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party candidate, has pledged continuing steadfast support for Kyiv.
Zelensky said in an interview with Fox News after his meeting with Trump that he received “very direct information” from Trump that the former US president would support Ukraine if re-elected.
Trump has questioned US spending on Ukraine’s war effort. During Zelensky’s visit to the United States last week, he repeated earlier statements that he would find a rapid resolution to the conflict if he won the election, without providing details.
Ukraine’s Zelensky: Front line ‘very, very difficult,’ must do what we can in autumn
https://arab.news/m5w2a
Ukraine’s Zelensky: Front line ‘very, very difficult,’ must do what we can in autumn
- Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday that its forces had captured the village of Nelipivka, south of the city of Toretsk, one of Moscow’s targets in the area
US warns UK to stop arresting Palestine Action supporters
- Undersecretary of state for diplomacy: Arrests doing ‘more harm than good’ and ‘censoring’ free speech
- Group was banned in July 2025 after series of break-ins
LONDON: UK authorities should stop arresting protesters showing support for banned group Palestine Action, the White House has warned.
The US undersecretary of state for diplomacy said arrests are doing “more harm than good” and are “censoring” free speech.
Sarah Rogers told news site Semafor: “I would have to look at each individual person and each proscribed organization. I think if you support an organization like Hamas, then depending upon whether you’re coordinating, there are all these standards that get applied.
“This Palestine Action group, I’ve seen it written about. I don’t know what it did. I think if you just merely stand up and say, ‘I support Palestine Action’, then unless you are really coordinating with some violent foreign terrorist, I think that censoring that speech does more harm than good.”
So far, more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the UK for showing support for the group.
It was banned in July 2025 after a series of break-ins nationwide, including at a facility owned by a defense manufacturer and a Royal Air Force base, during which military aircraft were damaged.
Last year, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was among those arrested while protesting for Palestine Action.
The group is challenging its ban, saying it should not be compared to terrorist organizations such as the Irish Republican Army, Daesh or Al-Qaeda.
The ban has been criticized by numerous bodies, with Amnesty International calling it a case of “problematic, overly broad and draconian restrictions on free speech.”
In Scotland, prosecutors have been offering to drop charges against some protesters in return for accepting a fine of £100 ($134.30).
Adam McGibbon, who was arrested at a demonstration in Edinburgh last year, refused the offer, saying: “The fact that the authorities are offering fines equivalent to a parking ticket for a ‘terrorism offence’ shows just how ridiculous these charges are. Do supporters of (Daesh) get the same deal?
“I refuse to pay this fine, as has everyone else I know who has been offered one. Just try and put all 3,000 of us who have defied this ban so far in jail.”
Rogers said the UK is also wrong to arrest people using the phrase “globalize the intifada” while demonstrating in support of Palestine, after police in Manchester said in December that it would detain people chanting it.
“I’m from New York City where thousands of people were murdered by jihadists,” she said. referring to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “I don’t want an intifada in New York City, and I think anyone who does is disgusting, but should it be legal to say in most contexts? Yes.”
