- Russia holds 20% of Ukraine’s territory, Zelensky said
- The zones held by Russia are a “complete disaster” – Zelensky
- Russia warns the United States about arming Ukraine
- The head of the UN aid is in Moscow for grain talks
LVIV, Ukraine, June 3 (Reuters) – Ukraine expects to receive more weapons from allies following a new US pledge of aid, President Vladimir Zelensky said as the battle for eastern Ukraine raged 100 days after Russia’s invasion.
According to Zelensky, Russian forces now occupy about 20% of Ukraine’s territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army is focusing on the industrial region of Donbass, which consists of Luhansk and Donetsk, hoping for a high-profile victory.
Three civilians were killed in Donetsk, including two in the coal-mining town of Avdievka, and nine were injured, Governor Pavlo Kirilenko said late Thursday. Reuters could not immediately confirm the details.
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“The entire temporarily occupied territory of our country is already a full disaster zone, for which Russia is fully responsible,” Zelensky said in a statement late last night.
“We expect more good news about the supply of weapons from other partners … We are working to bring the supply of modern combat systems to a much higher level,” he said.
Russia has accused the United States of adding fuel to the fire with a new $ 700 million package of weapons for Ukraine, which will include advanced missile systems with a range of up to 80 km (50 miles).
President Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly said it has assurances from Ukraine that it will not use missile systems to hit targets in Russia.
Russia says it is engaged in a “special military operation” to disarm and “denationalize” its neighbor. Ukraine and its allies call it an unfounded pretext for a war that killed thousands, compared cities and forced more than 6 million people to flee abroad.
DONBASS
While Moscow denies targeting civilians, she says she considers Ukraine’s infrastructure used to import Western weapons a legitimate goal.
But he said Western supplies would not change the course of his attack.
“Pumping weapons into Ukraine does not change all the parameters of a special operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked if US plans to sell missiles to Ukraine that could be armed with missiles could change the nature of the conflict. Read more
“His goals will be achieved, but it will bring more suffering to Ukraine.”
Russia’s Pacific Fleet is launching a week-long series of exercises involving more than 40 ships and up to 20 aircraft, Russian news agencies reported, citing the Defense Ministry. Read more
On the spot in Ukraine, the eastern industrial city of Sieverodonetsk is now largely in ruins after days of fierce fighting.
His conquest, and that of the smaller twin Lisichansk, will give Russia control of all of Luhansk, which, like Donetsk, is claimed by Russia on behalf of the separatists.
The conquest of Luhansk will achieve one of Putin’s stated goals and will shift the momentum of the battlefield even more in favor of Russia, after its forces were pushed out of the capital Kyiv and north.
Moscow’s forces are also trying to advance south to the Ukrainian-controlled cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk in Donetsk, Governor Kirilenko said.
UN SPEAKS FOR GRAIN
The war and the Western sanctions imposed in response to it are affecting the world economy, which is still dealing with the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
By controlling some of Ukraine’s largest seaports and critical sea routes to the Black Sea, Russia has blocked exports to Ukrainian farms and exacerbated the massive food crisis.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths is in Moscow on Thursday and Friday to discuss with Russian officials how the way to export grain and other food from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports could be cleared.
“The situation remains volatile,” said UN spokesman Stefan Dujarric, adding that the United Nations will do and will go wherever we need to go to push this project forward.
Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly a third of the world’s wheat supplies, while Russia is also a major exporter of fertilizers and Ukraine a major supplier of corn and sunflower oil.
Interfax quoted the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday as saying that grain carriers could leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports through “humanitarian corridors” and Russia is ready to ensure their safety.
As Washington blacklisted more Kremlin-linked individuals and entities, including a major steelmaker and cellist he called Putin’s mediator, the European Union has finally approved a package of sanctions that includes a 90% reduction in Russian imports. oil by the end of the year.
Russia called the import ban “self-destructive”, saying it could destabilize global energy markets. Read more
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Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Costas Pitas and Stephen Coates; Edited by Rosalba O’Brien, Robert Birsel
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