War in Ukraine: Kiev General Staff announces that Russia has so far lost more than 234 thousand troops
The General Staff of the Ukrainian army has announced that more than 30 clashes have taken place on the battlefield in the last day. Meanwhile, the death toll from the Russian attack on Liman is rising, and in the Ukrainian city of Nikopol people are facing a shortage of drinking water due to the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam and the complicated situation at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant.
The number of people who died in Saturday's shelling of Liman has reached nine, the head of Donetsk regional state administration Pavel Kirilenko announced. Russian forces have been firing rockets at the town in the eastern Donetsk region, with the death toll announced on Saturday evening at eight dead and 13 wounded. Also yesterday, one person was killed and another wounded in an attack on the town of Avdiivka in the same region.
Residents of the Ukrainian town of Nikopol are facing a threat from the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, some 10 kilometres away, an environmental disaster and water shortages due to the destruction of the Kakhovka dam and continuous bombing.
"We are afraid. The most important thing for us now is drinking water.";
"It's difficult, especially when you hear the sirens. Mostly we worry about our children and grandchildren.";
"Most of them have probably left, but there are some who have stayed, and when we go to the playground in the evening, there are actually quite a lot of children."
However, nearly half of the 100,000 people who lived here before the Russian Federation's attack in February 2022 are still holding out, hoping that Ukraine will soon prevail.
"As we speak, shelling is taking place in a neighbouring village of Nikopol. The Russians are shooting in an area where civilians live. It's very hard, both morally and physically," says the head of Nikopol's military administration, Yevhen Yevtuchenko.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam has led to flooding in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of western Ukraine. According to Ukraine's Emergency Service, 55 residential buildings and 500 households were affected by the floods. At the same time, more than three kilometres of roads were under water. Fourteen people were rescued from the floods. Nearly 80 people were evacuated.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda met in Lutsk, where they attended a mass together at the city's Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.
Meanwhile, the German parliament's budget committee has approved the purchase of additional ammunition to be used both for the needs of the German army and to support Ukraine, the defence ministry in Berlin announced. From the start of the war on 24 February 2022 until now, Russia has lost more than 234,000 soldiers, including 600 in the last day, according to the latest data released by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
