KYIV, Ukraine — Amid signs that atrocities and fighting were likely to intensify as the war in Ukraine entered its seventh week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday warned of a “hard battle” ahead, with Russian forces amassing in the east for a new offensive.
Thousands of terrified civilians were fleeing the eastern Donbas region, expected to be the next major battleground after Russia shifted its focus to consolidating its control in the places it already occupies. More than 50 civilians attempting to escape the region were killed in what Ukraine has said a Russian missile strike on a crowded train station on Friday.
“We believe in this fight and our victory,” Zelenskyy said Saturday at a news conference in the capital, Kyiv, alongside the visiting Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
