Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Saturday that counteroffensive and defensive actions had been underway towards Russian forces, asserting that his prime commanders had been in a “optimistic” mindset as their troops engaged in intense preventing alongside the entrance line.

The Ukrainian chief, at a Kyiv information convention alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responded to a query about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remark a day earlier that Ukraine’s counteroffensive had began — and Ukrainian forces had been taking “important losses.”

Zelennsky stated that “the counteroffensive, defensive actions are going down in Ukraine. I can’t discuss which stage or section they’re in.”

“I’m in contact with our commanders of various instructions day by day,” he added, citing the names of 5 of Ukraine’s prime navy leaders. “Everyone seems to be optimistic. Cross this on to Putin.”

Trudeau, the primary international chief to go to Ukraine since devastating floods attributable to a breach in a Dnieper River dam, supplied up financial, navy and ethical assist for Ukraine. He pledged $500 million in new navy assist, on prime of $8 billion that Canada has already offered for the reason that conflict started in February 2022, and introduced $10 million for humanitarian help for the flood response.

Trudeau stated the dam’s collapse was “a direct consequence of Russia’s conflict,” however he did not blame Moscow immediately.

Ukraine’s Common Employees stated Saturday that “heavy battles” had been ongoing, with 34 clashes over the day prior to this within the nation’s industrial east. It gave no particulars however stated Russian forces had been “defending themselves” and launching air and artillery strikes in Ukraine’s southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas.

On the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant, Europe’s largest, which is occupied by Russian forces, 5 out of six reactors had been already in a state of chilly shutdown, That is a course of during which all management rods are inserted into the reactor core to cease the nuclear fission response and era of warmth and strain.

Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear company, stated in an announcement late Friday that there was “no direct menace” to the Zaporizhzhia plant because of the breach of the Kakhovka dam additional down the Dnieper River, which has pressured 1000’s of individuals to flee flooding and in addition sharply lowered water ranges in a reservoir used to assist cool the power.

Energoatom stated it shut down the ultimate reactor resulting from that, and in addition due to shelling close to the positioning that has broken overhead strains connecting the plant to Ukraine’s power system.

With all nuclear reactions stopped, temperatures and strain inside reactors steadily decline, lowering the required depth of water cooling of the radioactive gas. It is a nuclear energy plant’s most secure working mode. Energoatom workers are nonetheless working on the energy plant, though it stays managed by the Russians.

The location’s energy items haven’t been working since September final yr. The pinnacle of the Worldwide Atomic Power Company is because of go to Ukraine within the coming days.

Additionally on Saturday morning, Ukrainian authorities reported that not less than 4 civilians have died throughout the nation as Russian forces launched Iranian-made Shahed drones, missiles, and artillery and mortar strikes.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that three individuals had been killed and greater than two dozen wounded in a single day in an assault concentrating on the Black Sea port of Odesa. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern operational command, Natalia Humeniuk, stated two youngsters and a pregnant girl had been amongst these wounded.

In Ukraine’s northeast, a 29-year-old man was killed as greater than 10 drones focused the Kharkiv area, its governor, Oleh Syniehubov, reported Saturday. He added that not less than three different civilians had been wounded.

Within the Poltava area additional west, there was injury to a navy airfield struck in a single day throughout a Russian drone and missile assault, native Gov. Dmytro Lunin reported. Lunin stated nobody was harm. As of Saturday morning, there was no further remark from the Ukrainian military or officers on the extent of the injury.

The Ukrainian air power stated that throughout the night time, it had shot down 20 out of 35 Shahed drones and two out of eight missiles “of assorted sorts” launched by Russian forces.

The preventing and civilian casualties took renewed consideration as authorities in southern Ukraine stated water ranges have been declining in an enormous space beneath the ruptured dam.

Practically one-third of protected pure areas within the Kherson area may very well be obliterated by flooding following the breach of the Kakhovka dam, the Ukrainian atmosphere minister warned Saturday.

In a Fb put up, Ruslan Strilets stated that the dam’s collapse left one nationwide park fully submerged, drained rivers and lakes in different protected areas, and will result in groundwater rising in elements of the Dnieper delta occupied by Moscow, creating the danger of additional flooding.

Within the metropolis of Kherson, whose outskirts had been among the many flood-hit areas, the common water degree decreased by 31 centimeters (12 inches) throughout the night time, however remained over 4.5 meters (15 ft) greater than ordinary, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin reported Saturday.

Prokudin warned that meteorologists predicted heavy rainfall within the space over the weekend, complicating rescue efforts.

The U.N.’s humanitarian assist chief, Martin Griffiths, stated in an Related Press interview Friday that an “extraordinary” 700,000 individuals had been in want of consuming water.

In different developments:

On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he needs to proceed talking with Putin — whose order for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been criticized by many Western leaders — and plans to take action once more “quickly.” Scholz has spoken a number of instances by telephone with Putin for the reason that invasion.

The chancellor stated the premise for a “honest peace” between Russia and Ukraine is the withdrawal of Russian troops. “That must be understood,” he stated.