Ukraine "will prevail": Zelensky on 1 year of Russian invasion

Kyiv/ Ukraine: On the eve of the anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine "will prevail" over Russian forces, Agence France-Presse reported.

Zelensky said that his country is not broken down, and since it has overcome many ordeals, it will prevail. Ukraine will hold all those who brought the war to its land accountable, the leader said.

However, Reuters reported that Russia started increasing hostilities in Ukraine on the first anniversary of its offensive on its neighbour.

Russia is targeting to capture all the parts of the two regions of the industrial Donbas area in eastern Ukraine by summer, Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov of the Ukrainian military said.

In a military briefing on Thursday, he said that a strong battle is underway around the eastern city of Bakhmut. He said that the enemy has the advantage of the resource of human mobilisation. It is deliberately intensifying hostility so as to deplete the Ukrainian armed forces units, the officer said.

According to the Ukraine administration, Russian forces are sustaining heavy casualties now as it is pushing more troops into battle. Gromov added that Moscow, however, is sending more prepared soldiers from regular units to the battle at Bakhmut, where fighting has gone past months.

Gromov said that Russian forces keep attempting to surround the city despite sustaining heavy casualties.

Russia had declared for regions in Ukraine, including Donetsk and Luhansk, part of them, but they do not have total control of these areas. If they could capture Balhmut, it would be an advantage for them to capture the two big cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, Reuters reported.