Day 507 of the Invasion of Ukraine: “One Can and Should Kill in Russia” according to Gen. Zaluzhnyi

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Day 507 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

• Russia claims to have repulsed 16 attacks from the Ukrainian counteroffensive
• Bakhmut: Over 400 times Ukrainian positions were shelled in the last 24 hours
• Russia has taken 280 children out of Lugansk
• Gen. Zaluzhnyi: One can and should kill in Russia

Russia claims to have repulsed 16 attacks from the Ukrainian counteroffensive

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia is making maximum efforts to stop its troops in the east and south. Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia while Moscow's troops are on Ukrainian territory, the head of the presidential administration of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said.

"Even if we think about such negotiations, they will be possible only after the Russian troops leave our territory," Yermak told the media. He acknowledged that the counteroffensive by Kyiv's forces was "not moving as quickly" as expected, but assured that Kyiv's Western allies were not pressuring him on the issue.

Ukrainians must understand that Russia has all available resources to stop the advance of Ukrainian troops in the eastern and southern parts of the country, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In his evening video address after holding a briefing with senior military commentators, he said:

"We must all understand very clearly, as clearly as possible, that the Russian forces in our southern and eastern lands are doing everything in their power to stop our troops. Therefore, every thousand meters we advance, every success of every combat brigade deserves our gratitude".

Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive to retake swathes of land in eastern and southern Ukraine seized by Russian forces. For the last 7 days, the Ukrainian army has advanced 1,700 meters in the direction of Melitopol. General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of Ukrainian forces in the south, said after the meeting that his troops were "systematically displacing the enemy from its positions".

In its daily report, Russia's defense ministry said its forces had repelled 16 Ukrainian attacks on the eastern front, including near the long-contested town of Mariinka and in a strategic village on the southern outskirts of Bakhmut.

Bakhmut: Over 400 times Ukrainian positions were shelled in the last 24 hours

"During the last 24 hours in the Bakhmut direction, the Russian occupiers shelled the positions of the Defense Forces 408 times, there were 15 clashes."

This was said by the spokesman of the Eastern Group of Armed Forces Serhiy Cherevatiy ******on the air of the national telethon "Єдині Новини", reports Ukrinform.

"Bakhmut remains a direction where the initiative lies with our defense forces. On the northern and southern flanks, our units pressed the enemy, stormed their positions. Our positions were shelled over 400 times, there was also an air attack. During the shootings, 77 occupiers were killed, 172 were wounded, and two were captured. Artillery installations, an anti-aircraft missile complex Strela-10, an anti-tank missile complex and a drone were destroyed", said Cherevatiy.

He noted that a general portrait of the Russian army can be drawn from the Russian prisoners of war: not very educated, poorly equipped, not from the highest social strata, with very little motivation.

According to the spokesman, the enemy is also most active in the Lymanske-Kupiansk direction. Attacks were registered in Dibrova region of Luhansk Oblast and Novosadova region of Donetsk Oblast. It is in this direction that the Russian troops use the most artillery.

The spokesman of the eastern group of troops noted that the enemy mines the front line in all areas and this is taken into account in the assault operations. All units involved, particularly in the direction of Bakhmut, had to undergo training in overcoming mine barriers.

According to Ukrinform data, since the beginning of the war, the defense forces of Ukraine have liquidated about 237 thousand 180 Russian invaders.

Russia has taken 280 children out of Lugansk

In July, the Russian occupiers removed from the occupied territory of the Luhansk region 280 children, the so-called "Cossack Cadet Corps" in the Republic of Kalmykia. This is reported by the website "Gordon".

By the end of the summer, the occupiers intend to take about 500 Ukrainian children out of the occupied territories.

Thus, the Russians not only kidnap children, but also zombify them with aggressive propaganda,

According to data from the "Children of the War" state portal, there are nearly 19,500 deported children. Of them, only 383 have returned.

Gen. Zaluzhnyi: One can and should kill in Russia

“The problem is ours and we decide how to kill the enemy. It is possible and necessary during war to kill on its territory. If our partners are afraid of their weapons being used, we will kill them with ours. But only as much as necessary.”

This was stated by the commander of the Ukrainian army, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi in an interview for "Washington Post".

"To save my people, why do I have to ask someone for permission to do what I do in enemy territory? For some reason I have to think I'm not allowed to do anything there. Why? Because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is going to use nuclear weapons? The kids who are dying don't care about that," he adds in the conversation.

A career officer, Zaluzhnyi has long faced three questions: "Am I ready to die? Am I ready to kill? Do I want to send people to die and kill?" writes author Isabelle Khurshudyan. "Now he asks himself a new question: 'How can I reduce the loss of human life?'. He will be sad later, now it would distract him from the task entrusted to him by the Ukrainians - to protect you and for Western partners to trust him when they send billions of dollars worth of weapons.”

As Western allies, worried about escalating the war, put conditions on their long-range missiles and other materials not to be used against Russian territory, he says Ukrainian-made weapons are being fired in strikes that Kyiv has never officially acknowledged.

Zaluzhnyi has to deal with a much smaller army than Russia's, sometimes firing three times as many missiles at the front, No air superiority, because when the F-16s come, it will be mostly likely next year at the earliest. And because about a fifth of Ukraine is occupied and filled with defense lines and minefields. While some Western leaders say he already has what it takes and doesn't need modern fighter jets, the general said in the interview that they would never fight under such circumstances.

And this should transform the Ukrainian army from post-Soviet to NATO.

Among the first things he did in his office was to renovate it because it reminded him of Soviet times and how much he hated appearing in front of its previous occupants and symbolized exactly what he wanted to change - "every one of them was practically a feudal lord, ordering his subordinates".

"These walls are soaked in blood. When you enter, you immediately understand that it was a mistake that you were born, it was a mistake to come here," he adds.

Now he listens not only to his officers, but also on social networks, soldiers from the front may reach him directly, writes "Washington Post". The effect of training and ties with NATO forces is also evident in that field commanders are often left to make decisions quickly, rather than waiting for an order up the chain of command, the Soviet model that has not yet entirely departed from the Ukrainian armed forces.

The army still requires strict order and discipline, Zaluzhnyi says. He can be strict and demanding, but "I don't make fun of people, I don't oppress them, I don't humiliate them".

For the Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Zaluzhnyi says that he has read everything he wrote, calls it "very, very interesting" and regrets that he has not published anything recently.

"He is an enemy - an enemy who is very smart," Zaluzhnyi says. "Smart and therefore cunning. He's still strong. So you have to respect him as such and look for ways to kill him. Because that's the only way to win."

After being arrested at the airport on arrival for a visit to NATO in Brussels due to a secret Interpol warrant at the request of Russia (because he commanded units in the Donbas and Moscow considers him a war criminal), the general decided he should study international relations and international law. He has had a master's degree for two and a half years and it helps him better understand the concerns of allies.

But this does not stop him from his main goals: "As soon as I have the means, I will do something [to return Crimea]. I don't care, no one can stop me."

It also makes him think about the post-war future of Ukraine - how to be so strong that no one dares to attack it again, which can be achieved mainly with domestically produced weapons, instead of waiting for supplies from abroad.

Maybe after the war, he will rest for a while. "As my wife says, 'OK, three days. Then what are you going to do?'” he replies with a laugh.

"The victory will come when we have an army - maybe not even a small one - that will ensure the safety of our children who are now in baby strollers so that they grow up knowing that this will not happen again. And that is a huge amount of work. It has to start now."

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