Updates from day 99 of the invasion
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Zelensky says Russia currently owns about 20 percent of Ukraine.
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Severodonetsk in Luhansk continues to fire at least 4 new victims.
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Russia has announced that it shot down a Ukrainian fighter jet in Nikolaev.
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NATO’s Stoltenberg in Washington to meet with President Biden.
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Britain will arm Ukraine with a missile system.
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The Danes approve the candidacy for the integration of defense with the European Union.
Russian forces tried to extend and consolidate control of the Ukrainian industrial city of Severodonetsk on Thursday, approaching a grand prize in their offensive in the eastern Donbass region.
After days of heavy fighting around Severodonetsk, much of which was lost by Russian bombing, Russian troops advanced through the city’s streets. Ukraine claims that about 70 percent of the city is under Russian control, and Russian troops are in the city center.
“The enemy is conducting assault operations in the town of Severodonetsk,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Thursday, adding that Russian forces were also attacking other parts of the eastern and northeastern parts.
At least four civilians were killed and 10 wounded in the eastern and northeastern parts, other officials said.
Russia denies attacking civilians.
WATCH Nikolaev, a key barrier to Russia’s progress, quiet and tense:
Residents of Nikolaev on the razor blade of the Russian invasion
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Russia currently occupies about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told a Luxembourg parliament in a video address Thursday.
“We have to defend ourselves from almost the entire Russian army. All combat-ready Russian military units are involved in this aggression,” he said, adding that the front line stretches for more than 1,000 kilometers.
Zelensky told US media earlier this week that Ukraine was losing between 60 and 100 troops a day in the fighting.
Civilians in bomb shelters in Luhansk
Luhansk Regional Governor Sergei Gaidai told Reuters that civilians were fleeing Russian attacks near a chemical plant in Severodonetsk, which he said was hit by an air strike on Tuesday, releasing a large pink cloud.
“There are civilians in bomb shelters, there are a lot of them left,” Gaidai said. Reuters could not verify the account on its own.
Locals gather at a bomb shelter in the town of Rubezhne in Ukraine’s Luhansk region on Wednesday. (Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters)
About 15,000 people remain in the city, Gaidai said.
The British Ministry of Defense said in a daily intelligence update Thursday that Russia controlled most of the city, which had a population of about 101,000 before the war, and that Ukrainian forces had destroyed bridges over the river to Lisichansk.
The conquest of all of Luhansk – one of the two provinces in Donbass, along with Donetsk, which Moscow claims on behalf of the separatists – would fulfill one of the main goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin and will solidify the change in momentum on the battlefield. were driven out of the capital Kyiv and northern Ukraine.
The governor of Donetsk said on Thursday that Russian forces were trying to advance south in the region to the key Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
“The Lyman and Izyum fronts are the main directions in which the enemy is trying to advance in order to take over the territories of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk,” [their] key goals in the northern part of the region, “Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kirilenko told a briefing.
Kirilenko also said 340,000 residents remained in Ukraine’s Ukrainian-controlled part of the pre-war population of 1.67 million.
WATCH The war in Ukraine threatens decades of research:
How the war in Ukraine threatens decades of research
As the conflict in Ukraine drags on, scientists and academics are looking for new homes for their research
Outside Donbass, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its military had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet in the Nikolaev region of southern Ukraine.
A briefing also said he had struck at Ukrainian command posts near Kharkiv in the northeast.
It was not possible to confirm the information on your own.
Putin sent troops across the border for what he called a special military operation on February 24 to disarm and “denationalize” Ukraine. Ukraine and its allies call it an unfounded pretext for an aggressive war, and the West has imposed harsh sanctions on Russia in an attempt to stifle its economy.
Thousands have been killed in Ukraine and millions more since the invasion, which also shook food supplies and energy markets. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of the world’s wheat supplies, while Russia is also a key exporter of fertilizers, oil and natural gas.
Britain to send missiles
Britain said on Thursday it would send sophisticated medium-range missile systems to Ukraine. Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace says the UK will send an unspecified number of M270 launchers that can send precision-guided missiles up to 80km
Britain has said Ukrainian troops will be trained in the UK to use the equipment.
Members of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces watch a FIFA World Cup qualifier between Scotland and Ukraine on a mobile phone at a shelter in Kharkov on Tuesday. Ukraine beat Scotland in the match. (Vitaly Khnidy / Reuters)
Ukraine is begging its Western allies to send longer-range missiles to help it counter Russian artillery in the eastern Donbass region, at the center of Moscow’s offensive.
Britain’s announcement follows new military aid packages for Ukraine this week from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands.
The United States has announced a $ 700 million package of US weapons for Kyiv that will include advanced missile systems with a range of up to 80 kilometers.
In addition to advanced missile systems called HIMARS, the new US package includes ammunition, firefighting radars, air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank missiles and anti-armed weapons, officials said.
The decision to provide missile systems to Ukraine was made after Washington received assurances from Kyiv that it would not use them to hit targets on Russian territory, which could escalate the war.
Ukraine is looking for multiple missile launchers such as the M270 and M142 HIMARS to provide more firepower over long distances to hit Russian forces behind the front line.
The US military stands next to the M142 high-mobility artillery missile system (HIMARS) during the World Defense Exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 6. The United States has agreed to send four of its missile systems to Ukraine. (Fayez Nureldine / AFP / Getty Images)
The Pentagon said Washington would initially provide Ukraine with four HIMARS systems.
Britain says its decision was closely coordinated with the US move.
Russia has accused the West of adding fuel to the fire. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the supplies would not encourage Ukraine’s leadership to resume strained peace talks.
Denmark has recently sought closer ties in defense
Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said on Thursday that he expects Denmark to join the European Union’s common defense on July 1st.
In a referendum on Wednesday, nearly 67 per cent of voters decided to give up a 30-year refusal that prevented the Scandinavian country from joining the EU.
Ukrainian troops are preparing to detonate unexploded ordnance on the outskirts of Kyiv on Wednesday. (Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)
For Denmark, a founding member of NATO’s 30-member Defense Alliance, joining EU policy will have a relatively modest impact on Europe’s security architecture, especially compared to recent historical NATO applications from Sweden and Finland.
But the move is the latest example of a country in Europe seeking closer defense ties with allies since Russia’s invasion in February.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is expected to meet with US President Biden on Thursday morning in Washington.
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