President Zelenskyy praises Ukrainians on enduring 50 days of war when Russia 'gave us five'

On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians they should be proud of themselves for surviving 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians "only gave us five."

In a late- night video address, Ukraine President Mr. Zelensky termed it as "an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on February 24 made the most important decision of their lives to fight".

Mr. Zelensky presented a detailed and almost poetic account of how Ukrainians had assisted in repelling Russian troops, including "those who demonstrated that Russian warships can sail away, even if it's to the bottom" of the sea.

Mr. Zelensky remembered how many world leaders advised him to leave Ukraine on the first day of the invasion, unsure whether Ukraine could survive.

"However, they had no idea how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the ability to live our lives as we want ," Mr. Zelensky added.

It is his only reference of the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank while being hauled to port. According to the Russian Defence Ministry,the Moskva missile-guided cruiser drowned in a storm on Thursday after being ravaged by fire, which led ordnance to detonate and blow up.

Ukrainian forces fired two missiles at the ship, causing "severe damage," according to Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the territory near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

Although neither set of claims has been independently verified, the ship is thought to have sunk. The Pentagon has stated that four or five more Russian warships have backed away from the Ukraine coastline, probably as a result of the cruiser's sinking, as Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo pointed.