Ukrainians attack Russia’s eastern city on the 100th day of the war

Ukraine: Ukraine said on Friday (June 3, 2022) that it occupied a large part of the region in fierce fighting for Svyarodonetsk and resisted an attempt by Russian troops to advance through the devastated eastern industrial city on the 100th day of Moscow’s invasion. failed.

Ukraine’s defense minister said its troops were training in Europe this week to operate the advanced missile systems pledged by the United States and Britain, which Kyiv hopes will help turn the battle in its favor. Will do

A war that Western countries believe Russia plans to win within hours has been on the ground for more than three months, at the cost of thousands of lives and disruption to the global economy. Moscow was driven back from Kyiv and launched a major new offensive in the east.

Rejecting Western criticism that the war has been blamed for the rise in global food prices hurting poor countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin The denial was preventing Moscow from exporting grain to Ukrainian ports.

Reuters arrived in Svyarodonetsk on Thursday and was able to verify that Ukrainians are still part of the city. Soldiers marched at high speed towards plumes of black smoke on roads laden with damaged armored vehicles. A constable was sitting in the back seat, his face covered in blood from injuries.

At another location in the city, Ukrainian soldiers, including foreign volunteers, unloaded weapons from a truck.

“We are going to push the Russians back. It will take a day, a month, or a year, it doesn’t matter. We are on the right side of history,” said Georgian Zurab Kakalidze, who described himself as “just.” 22 year old kid.”

On Friday, Serhi Gaidai, the Ukrainian head of the Luhansk region, told national television that Ukrainian troops had captured about 20% of the territory lost to Russian forces in Svyarodonetsk.

Reuters could not independently verify Gaidai’s claim.

Two Reuters journalists were injured and a driver was killed when their vehicle caught fire as they tried to reach Svyarodonetsk from an area controlled by Russia-backed separatists.

Gaidai said the Russians had been shelling Ukrainian targets for hours and then advanced, only to be driven out by defenders who had not sustained injuries, before repeating the pattern.

“That’s how they are moving step by step, because with artillery, aircraft, mortars they are destroying everything,” he said.

“But as soon as we have enough Western long-range weapons, we will push their artillery away from our positions. And then, believe me, Russian infantry, they will just run.”

Ukraine’s Military General Staff said that Russian troops attempted to move from Sveriodonetsk across the Sversky Donetsk River to Lysichansk, but were forced to retreat, Ukraine’s Military General Staff said.

In neighboring Donetsk province, a target of Moscow’s eastern offensive, Russian troops were just 15km (9 miles) outside the city of Slovakia, regional governor Pavlo Kyrilenko told Reuters.

Donetsk will not fall quickly, but more weapons are needed to keep the attackers at bay, Kyrylenko said.

Washington said this week it expected Ukrainians would need three weeks of training to use the rocket, whose range of up to 80 km (50 mi) could help negate the fire-power advantage of Russia’s artillery. Is.

US President Joe Biden told reporters that negotiations would be needed in Ukraine at some point, but in the meantime the United States would help Ukrainians defend themselves.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an overnight address that Kyiv was expecting more “good news” on foreign weapons after the latest $700 million US arms package for Ukraine. “Victory will be ours,” he said later on Friday in a video address outside his Kyiv office to mark 100 days of the war.

slow but steady progress

Moscow says Western weapons will add “fuel to the fire” but will not change what it calls a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and get rid of dangerous nationalists.

Despite operating from Ukraine’s north in March following a failed attack on the capital, Russia still controls about a fifth of the country, having seized nearly half in 2014 and since launching its offensive on 24 February. Half captured.

For both sides, the massive Russian offensive in the East in recent weeks has been one of the deadliest phases of the war, with Ukraine saying it is losing 60-100 soldiers every day.

Moscow has made slow but steady progress, squeezing Ukrainian forces inside a pocket in the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, but has so far failed to encircle them.

Meanwhile, Kyiv hopes that the Russian advance will end Moscow’s forces long enough for Ukraine to recapture the area in the coming months.

famine, instability

The war has had devastating effects on the global economy, particularly for poor food-importing countries. Ukraine is one of the world’s major sources of grain and cooking oil, but those supplies were cut off by the closure of Black Sea ports, with more than 20 million tons of grain stuck in silos.

“Failure to open those ports will result in famine,” UN crisis coordinator Amin Awadh said in Geneva.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths on Friday ended “frank and constructive discussions” with Russian officials in Moscow to facilitate Ukraine grain exports from Black Sea ports, a UN spokesman said.

The talks came as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tried to broker what he calls a “package deal” to restart both Ukrainian food exports and Russian food and fertilizer exports.

Kyiv and its allies blame Moscow for blocking the ports, which Ukraine has mined to prevent a Russian amphibious attack. Putin blamed Western sanctions and said sanctions on Belarus should be lifted so Ukraine could export through its neighbour, Moscow’s ally.