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Nearly two months after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the government in Kyiv says a long-anticipated offensive against the east of the country has begun.

Oleksiy Goncharenko is MP for Odesa, a port city on the Black Sea. He tells Newsday that the east of the country is 鈥渧ery much deserted鈥�but still many people are there鈥�especially elderly people, some people with disabilities and some don鈥檛 want to go because that is their home鈥�.

He acknowledges there is a risk that Ukraine will lose the east but he does not believe that Russia will succeed: 鈥淲hat we see during this 54 days鈥�they can鈥檛 do this. Only their success is around Mariupol鈥�but even Mariupol is still fighting.鈥�

(Picture: A crater and a destroyed home are pictured in the village of Yatskivka, eastern Ukraine on April 16, 2022. Russia's military focus now seems to be on seizing the eastern Donbas region. Credit: RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)