Ukraine Governor: ‘This Is a War of Artillery… And We Are Out of Ammo’; Russia Exploits Artillery Advantage as Ukraine Braces for Attacks on More Eastern Cities; Russia said to be using more deadly weapons in war; Ukraine Slams Biden for ‘Absurd’ Jab at Zelenskyy That ‘Needs to Be Clarified’, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

Ukraine Governor: ‘This Is a War of Artillery… And We Are Out of Ammo’:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s forces were “doing everything” to stop the Russian offensive, with fierce battles in the east and the south.

Kyiv said Friday it had launched new air strikes in the captured southern region of Kherson, one of the first areas to be taken by Russia after the February 24 invasion.

But Zelensky said Friday “very difficult battles” were ongoing, including in the eastern Donbas region where Moscow has concentrated its firepower, especially around the eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk.

“Ukrainian troops are doing everything to stop the offensive of the occupiers,” Zelensky said in an address.

In the Mykolaiv region near the front line in the south, the regional governor stressed the urgent need for international military assistance.

“Russia’s army is more powerful, they have a lot of artillery and ammo. For now, this is a war of artillery… and we are out of ammo,” Vitaliy Kim said.

“The help of Europe and America is very, very important.” —>READ MORE HERE

Russia Exploits Artillery Advantage as Ukraine Braces for Attacks on More Eastern Cities:

Ukraine issued fresh calls for urgent supplies of weapons from the West, as officials warned that the war with Russia was rapidly becoming a series of artillery battles that favor Moscow’s better-equipped forces.

“Ukrainian troops are doing everything to stop the offensive of the occupiers, as much as is possible,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his late-evening address to the nation on Friday. “As much as the heavy weapons and modern artillery—all that we have asked and continue to ask our partners for—allow them to.”

Ukraine’s rapidly dwindling supply of arms and ammunition has become a key factor holding back its efforts to defend the country from the Russian invasion, officials say, as Russia’s superior artillery arsenal bolsters its ability to keep prosecuting a military campaign that started in February.

Amid increasingly frank Ukrainian assessments of the difficult defense effort, President Biden said that Mr. Zelensky had dismissed U.S. warnings about a Russian invasion in the weeks before it began on February 24.

“I know a lot of people thought I was exaggerating,” Mr. Biden said of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin’s plans. Mr. Biden, speaking at a reception for the Democratic National Committee in Los Angeles on Friday, said the U.S. had data showing Mr. Putin planned to invade, “and Zelensky didn’t want to hear it, nor did a lot of people.”

Responding to Mr. Biden, Mr. Zelensky’s spokesman Sergii Nykyforov said the two presidents had several conversations ahead of the invasion to discuss the evidence provided by the U.S. side. Kyiv had urged U.S. sanctions to deter Russian military action, Mr. Nykyforov told Ukrainian media on Saturday, but “our partners didn’t want to hear it.” —>READ MORE HERE

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