Kyiv [Ukraine], August 24: Ukraine marked its National Flag Day on Saturday with a ceremony attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.
"This very flag embodies a feeling of deliverance for those we bring back from Russian captivity," Zelensky said in a post on X. "When they see the Ukrainian colors, they understand: the evil is over." The blue-and-yellow flag also represented a symbol of hope for Ukrainians living in territory occupied by the Russians, he said.
On Sunday, the war-torn country will celebrate Independence Day to mark leaving the Soviet Union 34 years ago. The day also marks three and a half years since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
In Moscow, the Defence Ministry reported that Russian troops were continuing their advance in eastern Ukraine, taking the village of Kleban-Byk to the south-east of Kostyantynivka, which is being defended by Ukrainian troops.
If the reports are accurate, Ukrainian troops in Shcherbynivka to the south would be virtually cut off, as their retreat is blocked by a dam.
Neither Russian nor Ukrainian military observers confirmed on their maps that Kleban-Byk had been taken, and the Ukrainian General Staff report referred only to attacks on Shcherbynivka. Earlier the General Staff reported that a Ukrainian MiG-29 combat jet had crashed while landing after a sortie, killing the pilot. The cause of the crash was still being investigated, it said.
The MiG-29, which dates back to the Soviet era, forms the basis of Ukraine's small air force, which has received aircraft of the same type from Poland and Slovakia since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
The air force also reported attacks by 49 Russian drones overnight, 36 of which had been intercepted. Strikes in seven locations were reported, and air raid sirens sounded in Kiev during the morning. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defences were in operation and that one drone fell onto a road.
Source: Qatar Tribune
