Updates from day 104 of the invasion
- Russia claims to control almost all of Luhansk, one of Donbass’ two main regions.
- The adviser to the Ukrainian president is trying to raise morale in the face of Russian progress.
- The removal of bodies from the Mariupol site continues.
- An official from Ukraine says grain exports will be two-thirds less if the Russian blockade continues.
Russia is deploying military reinforcements in eastern Ukraine to help capture a key city, a Ukrainian official said on Tuesday as Moscow’s artillery maintained shelling aimed at crushing Ukraine’s defenses.
Luhansk Governor Sergei Haidai told the Associated Press that Russian forces control the industrial outskirts of Severodonetsk, one of two cities in the Luhansk region, still in Ukrainian hands.
“The toughest street battles continue with varying degrees of success,” Haidai said. “The situation is constantly changing, but the Ukrainians are repelling the attacks.
Russia seems inclined to take over the entire eastern part of Ukraine’s Donbass, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Although the Kremlin forces have superior firepower, Ukrainian troops – among them the country’s best-trained forces – have been strengthened and have the ability to counterattack.
“Our heroes are not giving up positions in Severodonetsk,” President Vladimir Zelensky said in a video address last night.
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Russia said on Tuesday that its forces control almost the entire Luhansk region.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow’s forces have taken over Severodonetsk’s residential areas and are struggling to take control of an industrial zone on its outskirts and nearby cities.
Shoigu added that Russian troops were pushing for an offensive against the city of Popasna, noting that they had taken control of Liman and Svyatohirsk and 15 other cities in the region. Popasna is a city with a pre-war population of 20,000, located about 30 kilometers south of Severodonetsk.
Adviser to Ukrainian President Mykhailo Podoliak urged his people not to be discouraged by the turnaround on the battlefield.
“Don’t let the news that we’ve given up scare you,” he said in a video message. “It is clear that the tactical maneuvers continue. We are giving up something, we are taking something back.”
Ukraine hopes to evacuate citizens from cities in Donetsk
Moscow forces also supported artillery shelling of Lisichansk, a city near Severodonetsk that was almost entirely controlled by Russian troops.
Haidai said Russian troops shelled a local market, school and college building, destroying the latter. Three wounded were sent to hospitals in other parts of Ukraine, he said.
“Total destruction of the city is underway, Russian shelling has intensified significantly in the last 24 hours. The Russians are using tactics on the burned land,” Haidai said.
In all, Ukrainian forces have repulsed 10 Russian attacks in the past 24 hours, according to Haidai. His report could not be verified independently.
Donetsk Regional Governor Pavlo Kirilenko told Ukrainian television that there was constant shelling on the front lines, with Russia trying to push Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, the two largest Ukrainian-held cities in Donetsk.
A girl carries a dog on Monday as she passes a house damaged by shelling in the Leninsky district of Donetsk, in the territory controlled by the Donetsk People’s Republic. (Alexei Alexandrov / Associated Press)
Kirilenko said efforts are being made to evacuate people from several cities, some of which have been attacked day and night, including Slavyansk, where about 24,000 people remain, about a quarter of the population.
“People already understand, although it’s too late, it’s time to leave,” he said.
In a nightly update, the Ukrainian military said two civilians had been killed in Russian shelling in Donbas, and Russian forces had shelled more than 20 communities using artillery and air strikes.
Russia claims to have pulled out artillery
Ukraine receives weapons and ammunition from the West to help repel ruthless Russian attacks. This aid has become a target for Russian artillery and fighter jets.
Russia said on Tuesday that its forces had destroyed two artillery systems provided by the United States and a howitzer supplied by Norway.
Ukrainian servicemen drive a tank near the front line in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine, on Monday. (Bernat Armangu / Associated Press)
Major General Igor Konashenkov said Russian artillery shelling destroyed other Ukrainian equipment in the eastern part of the country, while the Russian air force struck Ukrainian troops and concentrations of equipment and artillery positions.
Konashenkov’s allegations could not be confirmed independently.
Meanwhile, autopsies of dozens of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steel plant were planned in Kyiv.
The bodies were returned to Ukraine by the Russian occupiers at a fortress-like factory in the ruined city of Mariupol, where their latest position has become a symbol of resistance to Moscow’s invasion.
The Azov Regiment was among the Ukrainian units that defended the steel plant for nearly three months before surrendering in May under ruthless Russian attacks from land, sea and air.
It was not clear how many bodies could remain in the plant.
Grain exports will be severely restricted: Ukraine
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, in what it called a “special military operation” to remove what it considered a threat to its security. Ukraine and its Western allies call it a baseless pretext for a war to seize territory.
Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports has hampered grain exports from one of the world’s largest producers.
WATCH Ukraine’s war halts grain exports:
Grain exports from Ukraine hampered by Russian invasion
More than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain is stuck in the country due to Russia’s blockade of major ports.
Ukraine will be able to export a maximum of two million tonnes of grain a month only if Russia refuses to lift its blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports, Taras Vysotsky, Ukraine’s first deputy agrarian and food minister, said on Tuesday. Vysotsky made the comments as he spoke via video link to participants at the International Grains Council (IGC) conference in London.
He said that even if the blockade of Russia’s port was lifted, it would take Ukraine about six months to clear the waters around its Black Sea ports, meaning the world would run out of grain for a while.
Russia has destroyed Ukraine’s second-largest grain terminal. Millions around the world will face greater food insecurity. Russia’s appetite is growing. Now they want not only to eliminate the Ukrainians, but also to put the world on the brink of starvation. Ukraine’s help will help avoid this.
– @ OlegNikolenko_
Ukraine is currently trying to export its vast grain reserves by road, river and rail to help prevent a global food crisis, but these routes face severe capacity constraints.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the country managed to export up to six million tons of grain a month.
Global wheat prices reached record highs in March, and soaring food prices sparked protests in developing countries and helped boost headline inflation around the world.
The United Nations is trying to conclude a deal to supply grain to Ukraine from its ports. Russia has said it wants Western sanctions lifted as part of the deal, and has also accused Ukraine of digging its own waters.
European Council President Charles Michel on Monday accused Russia of using food supplies as an “invisible missile against developing countries” and blamed the Kremlin for the looming global food crisis, prompting Moscow’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzia to leave the Security Council. .
Shoigu said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol, occupied by Russian forces, have been demined and are ready to resume grain supplies.
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