- When the war entered its fourth month, Russia concentrated on the east
- Russia is trying to encircle Ukrainian troops in twin cities
- Von der Leyen of the EU says Moscow is arming food
Kyiv / SLOVYANSK, Ukraine, May 25 (Reuters) – Russian forces tried to encircle Ukrainian troops in twinned eastern cities on a river, while President Vladimir Zelensky warned that Moscow was seeking to destroy the Donbass industrial region where it had concentrated attacks. you are.
Russia is trying to seize the two separatist-claimed provinces of Donbass, Donetsk and Luhansk, and capture Ukrainian forces in the pockets of the main eastern front.
Russian forces have taken control of three cities in the Donetsk region, including Svetlodarsk, regional governor Pavlo Kirilenko told a branch of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.
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“The situation in Donbass is extremely difficult. The rest of the Russian army’s strength is now concentrated in the region, “Zelensky said in a late address Tuesday. “The occupiers want to destroy everything there.
Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to an email request for comment outside of business hours.
The easternmost part of the Ukrainian pocket of Donbass, the city of Severodonetsk on the east bank of the Seversky Donets River and its twin Lisichansk, on the west bank, have become a major battlefield. Russian forces were advancing from three directions to surround them.
“The enemy has focused its efforts on an offensive to encircle Lisichansk and Severodonetsk,” said Sergei Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, where the two cities are among the last territories held by Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said it had repulsed nine Russian attacks Tuesday in Donbass, where Moscow troops killed at least 14 civilians using planes, missiles, artillery, tanks, mortars and missiles.
Reuters could not immediately verify the information.
As a sign of Ukraine’s success elsewhere, authorities in Kharkiv’s second-largest city have reopened the subway, where thousands of civilians had taken refuge for months under relentless bombing.
The reopening came after Ukraine pushed Russian forces largely out of range of the northern city’s artillery, as the capital Kyiv did in March.
THIRD WORLD WAR?
Three months after the invasion, Russia still has only limited profits for its biggest military losses in decades, while much of Ukraine has been devastated by the biggest attack on a European country since 1945.
More than 6.5 million people have fled abroad, countless thousands have been killed and cities have been reduced to rubble.
The war also caused growing food shortages and rising prices due to sanctions and supply chain disruptions. Both Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grain and other goods.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has accused Russia of using food as a weapon. Read more
Billionaire financier George Soros, also speaking in Davos, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have marked the beginning of World War III.
“The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible,” he said.
Pro-Russian troops remove branches covering 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer at their combat positions in the Luhansk region, Ukraine, May 24, 2022. REUTERS / Alexander Ermochenko
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was jailed on Tuesday, criticized President Vladimir Putin for describing the Kremlin chief as a doomed lunatic who is killing the people of Ukraine and Russia.
“This is a stupid war that your Putin started,” Navalny told the Moscow Court of Appeals via video link from a penal colony. “This war is built on lies.”
Highlighting global tensions unleashed by the war, US main ally Japan castrated planes on Tuesday after Russian and Chinese warplanes approached its airspace while US President Joe Biden visited Tokyo. Read more
Meanwhile, in a decision that could push Russia closer to the brink of default, the Biden administration said it would not extend Wednesday’s release, which allows Russia to pay U.S. bondholders.
Russia has been allowed to continue to pay interest and principal and prevent default on its public debt.
Russian lawmakers have given the first seal of approval to a bill that would allow Russian legal entities to take over foreign companies that have left the country in opposition to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, a government online portal has revealed.[nL5N2XG5UG}[nL5N2XG5UG}[nL5N2XG5UG}[nL5N2XG5UG}
On Monday, Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) became the last Western brand to announce its withdrawal from Russia following a similar decision by McDonald’s. The trademark of the Golden Arches hamburger chain was removed near Moscow on Monday.
STRETCHED CONFLICT
Senior Russian officials suggested in comments Tuesday that the war, which Russia calls a “special operation”, could drag on.
Nikolai Patrushev, head of Putin’s Security Council, said Russia would fight as long as necessary to eradicate “Nazism” in Ukraine, an excuse for what the West calls a groundless war.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia was deliberately advancing slowly to avoid civilian casualties.
Zelenski dismissed such statements as “absolutely unrealistic.”
Hundreds of people were living underground in trains and stations in Kharkov when authorities asked them to make their way on Tuesday.
“Everyone is terribly scared because there is still shelling,” said Natalia Lopanska, who has lived on the subway for most of the war.
Russian shelling continues in the city and the wider area, said Governor Oleh Sinehubov.
The fighting in Donbass follows Russia’s biggest victory in months: last week’s surrender of the Ukrainian garrison in the port of Mariupol following a siege that believed Kyiv had killed tens of thousands of civilians.
Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to Ukraine’s Mariupol mayor who now works outside the city, said the dead had been found among the rubble.
About 200 decaying bodies were buried in debris in the basement of a tall building, he said. Residents refused to collect them and Russian authorities abandoned the site.
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Report by Alexander Kozhuhar in Lviv, Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv, Vitaly Khnidiy in Kharkov and Reuters journalists in Mariupol and Slavyansk; Screenplay by Costas Pitas and Michael Perry; Edited by Cynthia Ostermann, Robert Birsel
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