Russian troops were advancing on Friday in a relentless assault on the strategic city of Severodnetsk to claim control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, bombard residential areas and capture a major city.
At least nine people were killed in shelling on Thursday in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, raising fears that Russia has not lost interest in the northeastern centre. Ukraine managed to regain control. The regional chief of the National Guard said about 10 people had been killed in Russian attacks on a military facility in Ukraine’s central city of Dnipro.
Three months after Russia launched its offensive on 24 February, thousands of men on both sides were released and 6.6 million Ukrainians were forced out of the country, after Moscow failed in its initial ambition to capture Kyiv. Focusing on the east of Ukraine. Russian forces were also closing in on Severodnetsk and Lisichansk in the pro-separatist Lugansk province, which stands on a crucial route to the eastern administrative center in Kramatorsk, Ukraine.
“Russia is exerting pressure on the Severodnetsk pocket, although Ukraine maintains control over many defense sectors, depriving Russia of full control over the Donbass,” the British Defense Ministry said in its latest briefing.
Lugansk police officer, quoted by Russia’s state news agency ria novosti, said that Severodnetsk is “now surrounded” and that Ukrainian troops could no longer leave the city. Senior city official Oleksandr Streich denied this, although he acknowledged that the situation was “very difficult” with constant bombardment.
Pro-Russian separatists said they had captured the city of Lyman, which lies between Severodnetsk and Kramatorsk, leading to major cities that are still under Kyiv’s control. Lugansk regional governor Sergei Gede said in a telegram video that at least five civilians had been killed in his region in the past 24 hours.
“People are ready to risk everything to get food and water,” said Oleksandr Kozyr, head of the main aid distribution center in Lisichansk. “They are so depressed psychologically that they are no longer afraid. They are only looking for food,” he said.
‘Won’t stop the metro’
Kharkiv region governor Oleg Sinegubov said nine civilians were killed in Russian shelling on Thursday. He said on social media channels that a five-month-old baby and his father were among the dead, while his mother was seriously injured.
The city of Kharkiv’s mayor, Igor Terekhov, said its metro system, which resumed work this week after being used mainly as a shelter since the Russian invasion, still provides a safe place for residents. Will continue to work
“We will not stop the metro, but we will allocate special areas where you can live and take shelter from the bombings,” Terekhov said.
Observers believe that Russia’s gains in the three months of the war have been weaker than President Vladimir Putin expected, although Moscow has regained control of a handful of cities in southern Ukraine such as Kherson and Mariupol. The Kremlin is now trying to tighten its grip on parts of Ukraine it occupied, including fast-tracking citizenship for residents of areas under Russian control.
According to Kyiv, Russian authorities in Mariupol, which took place this month after a disastrous siege that killed thousands and reduced the city to rubble, were at the school to prepare students to switch to the Russian curriculum. Holidays cancelled. There is speculation that Russia may try to annex the regions of eastern and southern Ukraine it now controls, possibly in a referendum during the Russian regional elections held across the country in September.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak with EU leaders at an emergency summit on Monday as they try to agree oil sanctions against Russia, which are being held by Hungary, whose prime minister is Viktor Orban. He has close ties with Putin. Zelensky said in a virtual address to a think tank in Indonesia, which is hosting this year’s G20 summit, that “instead of continuing to trade with (Russia), we need to act until that they do not stop their policy of aggression”.
‘Afraid to grow’
There have also been tensions between Kyiv and some Western countries, notably Germany, over a perceived reluctance to supply more weapons to Ukraine lest the conflict escalate. Ukraine has also pushed for suggestions that Putin should be offered an “off-ramp” to save face in a settlement agreement that would see Kyiv accept some territory.
“Some partners avoid giving necessary weapons for fear of escalating tension. Rise, really?” Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podolik wrote on Twitter, adding that it was “time to respond” by giving Kyiv a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS).
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he feared Putin would “continue to chew the ground in the Donbass”. “And therefore, it is absolutely vital that we continue to support Ukrainians militarily,” he said.
‘Action needed’
Concerns are also rising over global food shortages caused by the conflict, adding to problems for the world’s poor at a time of rising energy prices. Russia and Ukraine alone produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply, with grain-carrying ships unable to leave ports in Ukraine.
But Putin dismissed claims that Russia was blocking Ukraine’s grain exports as “baseless”, in a telephone call with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehmer on Friday, the Kremlin said. On Thursday, Putin told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi that Moscow was ready to make a “significant contribution” to avert an impending food crisis if the West lifts sanctions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine.
But the United States ridiculed Putin’s proposal, with Pentagon spokesman John Kirby accusing Moscow of “weaponizing economic aid.”
read all breaking news , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.