Ukraine under fire by 'occupiers,' says president

By Burc Eruygur

ANKARA (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday his country is under attack by Russian forces as drone and missile strikes on the country’s capital Kyiv and other cities entered their second week.

“Ukraine is under fire by the occupiers. They continue to do what they do best -- terrorize and kill civilians,” Zelenskyy said on his Telegram account.

Zelenskyy also confirmed that Russian strikes destroyed a residential building in the city of Mykolaiv.

“There was also a strike at the flower market and the Chestnut Park. I wonder what the Russian terrorists were fighting against at these absolutely peaceful facilities,” he said.

The strikes only reiterate Russia’s “destructive and murderous essence, for which it will certainly be held to account,” he added.

Ukrainian Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak said the attacks will not break the nation's will.

“Terrorists from the Russian Federation continue their naive attempts to break us and intimidate us. They think that they will achieve the goal of freezing Ukrainians, leaving us without light and heat. Naive, because losers and cowards cannot break a nation of strong people,” he said.

Local authorities continued to report airstrikes in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and other regions in the country on Tuesday morning.

Besides Kyiv, missile and drone strikes were reported in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Zhytomyr, and Sumy regions of Ukraine.