Russia presses Donbas offensive as Polish leader visits Kyiv

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pressed its offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region Sunday as Poland’s president traveled to Kyiv to support the country’s Western aspirations, becoming the first foreign leader to address the Ukrainian parliament since the start of the war.

Ukrainian lawmakers stood to applaud Polish President Andrzej Duda, who thanked them for the honor of speaking where “the heart of a free, independent and democratic Ukraine beats.” Duda received more applause when he said that to end the conflict, Ukraine did not need to submit to conditions given by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Unfortunately, in Europe there have also been disturbing voices in recent times demanding that Ukraine yield to Putin’s demands,” he said. “I want to say clearly: Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future. Only Ukraine has the right to decide for itself.”

Duda’s visit, his second to Ukraine’s capital since April, came as Russian and Ukrainian forces engaged in battles scattered along a 551-kilometer (342-mile) wedge of the country’s eastern industrial heartland, and as Ukraine pursues European Union membership.

After declaring full control this week of a sprawling seaside steel plant that was the last defense holdout in the port city of Mariupol, the Russian military launched artillery and missile attacks in the Donbas, seeking to expand the territory Moscow-backed separatists have held since 2014.

To bolster its defense against the invasion, Ukraine’s parliament voted Sunday to extend martial law and the mobilization of armed forces for a third time, until Aug. 23.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed that the 27-member EU should expedite Ukraine’s request to join the bloc as soon as possible due to Russia’s invasion. Ukraine’s potential candidacy is set to be discussed at a Brussels summit in late June.

Poland’s government is ramping up efforts to persuade other EU members that are more hesitant about accepting the war-ravaged country as a member. Zelenskyy said Duda’s visit represented a “historic union” between Ukraine, which declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and Poland, which ended communist rule two years earlier.

“This is really a historic opportunity not to lose such strong relations, built through blood, through Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy said. “All this not to lose our state, not to lose our people.”

Poland has welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees and become a gateway for Western humanitarian aid and weapons going into Ukraine. It is also a transit point into Ukraine for some foreign fighters, including from Belarus, who have volunteered to fight against the Russian forces.

“Despite the great destruction, despite the terrible crime and great suffering that the Ukrainian people suffered every day, the Russian invaders did not break you. They failed at it. And I believe deeply that they will never succeed,” he told the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s legislature.

Duda also credited “the United States and the leadership of President Joe Biden” for the unity Western nations have shown in supporting Ukraine and imposing sanctions…