At 9-month mark of invasion, Zelenskyy says 'Russia won't break us'

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. [File, Standard]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday in his nightly address, nine months to the day into Russia's full-scale invasion, that the enemy had failed to find a way to "break us, and will not find one," adding the Ukrainian military was holding "key lines" in all directions.

He said that Ukrainian advances were planned in some unnamed areas.

The grim nine-month milestone came with much of Ukraine still plunged in darkness and without reliable water supplies as a result of a furious series of Russian missile attacks on civilian infrastructure that cut off power all over the country Wednesday.

"Together we have endured nine months of full-scale war and Russia has not found any way to break us, and it will not find one," Zelenskyy said.

He said Russian forces were heavily bombing the city of Kherson, which occupying forces abandoned earlier this month. It was the only regional capital they have captured so far in the full-scale invasion.

Zelenskyy said "almost every hour" brings reports of new Russian air strikes on the city, and seven people had been killed and 21 more wounded there Thursday, according to local officials.

"Such terror began immediately after the Russian Army was forced to flee from the Kherson region. This is the revenge of the losers," Zelenskyy said. "They do not know how to fight. The only thing they can do for now is terrorize. Either energy terror, or artillery, or missile terror -- that's all that Russia has degraded to under its current leaders."

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops "are holding key milestones in all directions...and there are directions in which we are preparing to move forward."

He said the Russian side appeared to be transferring additional forces to certain areas.

RFE/RL was unable to confirm battlefield claims and casualty reports on either side in areas of heavy fighting.

The Ukrainian Army's General Staff reported that the Russians have "intensified counter-sabotage and policing measures" in the occupied area of Skadovskiy in the Kherson region.

It said Russian troops were also strengthening fortification equipment and logistical support of advanced units in the Kherson, Kryviy Rih, and Kryvorizka areas.

It said Russians were concentrating their main efforts on offensives in the areas of Bakhmut and Avdiyivka.