Ukraine: kyiv says it will land again on Russian troops in Chevroletonetsk

Russia says it has accomplished some of the objectives of the “special military operation” it launched to “tenacify” Ukraine and protect its Russian-speaking population after 100 days of war. However, “victory will be ours,” however, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky responded in a video on Friday, where he appeared in front of the Presidential Palace in Kiev with several of his colleagues.

After the defeat before kyiv, the Russian army is now concentrating its efforts in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine, constantly plundering some cities, including Severodonetsk, which has been subjected to weeks of fierce fighting. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that a long-running “hostile war” is now underway in the region.

Fighting broke out in the city center on Friday morning, according to the Ukrainian president. “Russian invaders continue to drop bombs on civilian infrastructure and the Ukrainian army in the Chevrodonetsk, Borivsky and Lysyansk regions,” he said.

But far from conquering, kyiv says, Russian forces have not yet taken full control of the city. The capture of the city would allow them to secure their capture of Donbass, a minefield somewhat occupied by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

Russian troops were forced to retreat, Lukansk region Governor Sergei Kaitoy said on Friday. “They have not fully captured it. If before we were in a difficult situation where 70% (of the city) was captured, now they are 20% pushed back,” he said.

“They bomb our positions for hours, then send in newly mobilized soldiers, they die, and then they realize there are still centers of resistance, and they start bombing again. That’s what happens. In the fourth month, Mr. Keitai explained.

Like the Ukrainian president, he calls for heavy weapons, he says, to push back Russian artillery from Ukrainian positions and avoid what happened in Mariupol. This strategic port was destroyed by bombings in the Sea of ​​Azov (southeast) captured on May 20.

“In these hundred days (of the war), the occupying forces have almost burned Mariupol to ashes,” its mayor Vadim Boychenko condemned on Friday. Conclusion: “More than 22,000 civilians were killed, 1,300 buildings were destroyed and 47,000 were deported to Russia” or to areas under the control of pro-Russian separatists, he said.

Russian forces are bombing the Donetsk region, including Sloviansk, 80 km west of Chevrolet Donetsk. According to kyiv, residents in the area have no access to gas, water or electricity.

In the south, there are fears that Ukrainians could annex territories occupied by Russian forces, and Moscow is holding a referendum on the issue until July. But according to the Southern Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Russians are facing very strong opposition from the people.

“The invaders are alarmed by the growing opposition among the local population in the Gershon region,” the first significant Ukrainian city captured at the start of the invasion by Russian forces was confirmed in the southern command night from Friday to Saturday.

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin a hundred days ago, his army has tripled its control over the Ukrainian part of the world: Russia now controls about 125,000 km2, including the Crimean peninsula and the occupied Donbass and southern Ukraine. President Zhelensky.

In the Diplomatic Front, 27 EU countries on Thursday approved a sixth embargo against Moscow, which would impose sanctions, including exemptions on oil purchases, that would take effect within six months.

The text was published in the official press on Friday and officially came into effect.

“European consumers will be the first to be affected by this decision (…) I do not rule out the possibility of a major shortage of petroleum products in the EU,” confirmed Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister in charge of energy. .

Concerns are also growing over grain supplies, with the United Nations saying it is in talks with Moscow to allow exports.

Amin Awad, the UN co-ordinator for Ukraine, said he was “hopeful that something could be done,” adding that he was looking forward to a “turning point”.

The UN is concerned about the risks of the crisis, particularly in Africa, which imports more than half of its grain from Ukraine and Russia. Their prices in Africa are already higher than those reached during the Arab Spring crisis in 2011 or the food riots of 2008.

Vladimir Putin set aside concerns. “There is no problem in exporting grain from Ukraine,” he said in a televised interview, citing several avenues for exporting Ukrainian ports, others under Russian control or through Central and Eastern Europe.

Macky Sall, the current head of the African Union (AU) and head of Senegal, said on Friday that he was “confirmed” after a meeting with the Russian president.

“We are here with great determination and with great pleasure in our exchanges,” he said at the end of the meeting in Chhattisgarh (southern Russia). Saul told reporters that the Russian president was “deeply concerned about the crisis and the crisis.”