In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of the conversations he held with 11 European leaders on Wednesday, asking for their support on the eve of an EU summit where a decision will be made on Ukraine’s candidate status with the bloc.
The question of Ukraine’s candidacy for the European Union will be decided at the European Council summit taking place on Thursday and Friday.
“Tomorrow I will continue this marathon — we must provide maximum support to our state,” Zelensky said.
At a separate event earlier Wednesday, Zelensky told an audience in Canada that he believed all European Union members would back a proposal to grant Ukraine EU candidate status.
Russian missile strikes: The President also gave an update on the Russian missile strike at Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, earlier on Wednesday. CNN reported earlier that Mykolaiv was struck with seven missiles and suffered damage to infrastructure. “Fortunately, no one was killed and five were injured,” Zelensky said.
According to Zelensky, casualties were reported following a strike on Kharkiv on Wednesday. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, confirmed this in his Telegram post Wednesday. He reported 10 people dead and 10 wounded as the result of the strike.
“In Donbas — massive air and artillery strikes. The goal of the occupiers in this direction remains the same — they want to destroy the whole Donbas step by step. All. Lysychansk, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk — they need to make any city like Mariupol. Completely broken,” Zelensky said.
War crimes: Zelensky also thanked the United States “for its assistance in investigating war crimes in Ukraine,” and called it “one of the greatest contributions to the protection of international law and order today.”
The US attorney general announced a war crimes accountability team during a trip to Ukraine Tuesday that will work to identify and prosecute anyone who committed war crimes in the country.