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Vladimir Putin thanks his special forces for fulfilling their 'heroic' military duty in Ukraine
The Asharq Al-Awsat reported, citing Reuters that President Vladimir Putin on Sunday thanked Russia's special forces, singling out those who are "heroically fulfilling their military duty" in Ukraine, in a televised address that was also published on the Kremlin website.
Ukrainian forces were holding off Russian troops advancing on the capital Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two entered a fourth day.
Zelenskiy said, but the night was brutal, with shelling of civilian infrastructure and targets including ambulances.
Casualties from the war are unclear. A United Nations agency reported 64 civilian deaths and Ukraine claimed to have killed 3,500 Russian soldiers.
More than 100,000 refugees, mainly women and children, have poured into neighboring countries, clogging railways, roads and borders since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a special military operation on Thursday.
Ignoring weeks of frantic diplomacy and sanctions threats by Western nations seeking to avoid war, Putin has justified the invasion saying "neo-Nazis" rule Ukraine and threaten Russia's security - a charge Kyiv and Western governments say is baseless propaganda.
Offering a glimmer of hope for talks, the Kremlin sent a diplomatic delegation to neighboring Belarus. Ukraine quickly rejected the offer, saying Belarus had been complicit in the invasion.
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But an adviser said that Zelenskiy left the door open for "real negotiations," elsewhere.
Russian missiles found their mark overnight, including a strike that set an oil terminal ablaze in Vasylkiv, southwest of Kyiv, the town's mayor said. Blasts sent huge flames and billowing black smoke into the night sky, online posts showed.
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The mayor, Natalia Balasinovich, said: "The enemy wants to destroy everything."
Source: aawsat
