On Tuesday, Kyiv indirectly called on Ukrainians in the territories occupied by Russia to leave this territory in the face of an imminent counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, DPA and UNIAN reported on Wednesday.

“I advise Ukrainians from the temporarily occupied territories to either go to third countries or prepare,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in Telegram, without providing details.

“There is no peace at all in the occupied territories. And that’s not surprising either. The responsible (Russian) occupiers still have some time to leave,” Vereshchuk says, adding that some of them have already started “packing their bags” and that “it would be good if they took the collaborators with them.” .

And ordinary people in these areas must find shelter, she insisted. “You know what you have to do, take care of yourself and your children,” the Ukrainian vice-prime minister told them.

New US military aid

At the same time, the US Department of Defense announced a new tranche of $2.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine, which mainly includes ammunition for artillery and other weapons systems, such as the Himars rocket launcher.

$500 million worth of weapons and ammunition will come from US military stockpiles, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

In addition, additional ammunition and weapons worth $2.1 billion will be delivered to Ukraine, which will be purchased from industry, he said.

New supplies include air defense radar systems, communications equipment, missile launchers and vehicles of various types.

The US is considered Ukraine’s most important ally in the sphere of defense against Russian invasion, DPA notes.

The new aid package is the 35th delivery of weapons from the US stockpile to Ukraine, starting in August 2021, the Pentagon reports.

A counteroffensive may begin in the near future

Instead, the Ukrainian General Staff announced on Tuesday that Russian and Ukrainian fighter jets and artillery units had entered into action in the east of the country. The Ukrainian General Staff does not report the exact locations of these battles.

The Ukrainian side also reported the destruction of two Russian electronic warfare systems, but this information could not be independently verified, DPA notes.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive may begin in the coming weeks, US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith previously reported, and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov stated that it may begin in April-May, reports Unian. (Agerpress)

Follow the latest events of the 406th day of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.