President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in his evening address on Friday that he has signed a decree creating a “special command for long-range impact on Russia” within Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
“This command must concentrate 100% of available resources to reduce Russia’s military potential even more substantially,” he said.
Zelensky did not say who would lead the command, noting only that the person would be “as experienced as possible.”
“Today there are new results from our long-range sanctions against Russia: the gasoline crisis there is deepening, which is entirely fair in response to Putin’s unwillingness to end this war. We have offered proposals on how to bring peace closer, and we have support not only among partners around the world but also within Putin’s inner circle. The people there understand what is happening and that there is no alternative to peace,” Zelensky added.
In recent weeks, Russia has experienced a worsening fuel crisis triggered by Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries. Ukrainian forces have attacked all of the country’s largest refineries.
U.S. President Donald Trump, at a meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, said that intensifying Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure was “an escalation, but this escalation can bring [the war] to a conclusion.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin argued that Ukraine’s strikes were intended to damage the Russian economy and “create a climate of anxiety in society.”
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