Ukrainian general threatens to take the fight to Russia, and Moscow accuses Kyiv of using an unknown weapon

 The commander of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zalongi, threatened to transfer the battles to Russia, while his forces in the east and south faced new Russian resistance, while the Russian army accused the Kyiv forces of using an unknown weapon in the battles.

In an interview published by The Washington Post, Zalongi said that it is necessary and possible to fight the Russian forces inside its territory, adding that "the method of fighting the enemy is the responsibility of the Ukrainians, and they are the ones who decide how."

He added that the Ukrainian army does not need permission for what it is doing on enemy territory to save its people, as he put it.

General Zalongi made it clear that if the partners were afraid to use their weapons inside Russia, the Ukrainian army would use its weapons, but only as much as necessary.

Earlier, Kyiv pledged not to use long-range weapons obtained from its Western allies to strike the Russian depth, and it also provided guarantees regarding the use of cluster bombs that Washington decided to provide it with.

And after a Ukrainian military commander confirmed - yesterday, Friday - that he had received the first batch of cluster munitions, CNN quoted a US official as saying that the cluster munitions quickly entered Ukraine, because they were already in Europe.

On the ground, the Ukrainian and Russian forces continued to launch mutual attacks in Donetsk Province (eastern Ukraine), in parallel with the continuation of battles in the provinces of Zaporizhia and Kherson (south).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said - in his daily speech yesterday evening - that the Russian forces are doing everything in their power to prevent the advance of Ukrainian forces in the southern and eastern regions.

The Ukrainian president and a number of his aides had approved before that the slow counter-attack that Ukrainian forces launched in the east and south on the fourth of last June, and achieved only limited gains.

The commander of the Ukrainian forces in the southern axis, General Oleksandr Tarnavsky, said yesterday evening that his forces are "systematically expelling the enemy from its positions," adding that the Russian losses during the past 24 hours amount to at least 200 soldiers, he said.

A military representative of a Russian investigation committee said that a residential neighborhood in the city was bombed using unknown artillery shells, which led to the burning of two houses completely, indicating that explosives experts are participating in the investigations to reveal the nature of those shells.

And Russian media reported that a fire broke out in forests adjacent to the city and extended for tens of kilometers.

And last Sunday, the Ukrainian army denied Russian accusations of using chemical weapons in the battles around the city of Bakhmut, describing them as fabricated.

On the other hand, Politico reported - quoting US and European officials - that the coalition of European countries that have pledged to train Ukrainian pilots is still awaiting official US approval of the program before training to fly US F-16s begins ( F-16).

The alliance, which includes 11 countries, had officially agreed at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, last Tuesday and Wednesday, to train Ukrainians to fly F-16 fighters and other fighters.

Source: Agencies