After the capture of Lyssytchansk which ensures Russia control of Luhansk, one of the two regions of Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered, on Monday July 4, the continuation of the offensive in that from Donetsk.
While the outcome of the war still seems distant, an international conference opened Monday in Switzerland will be largely devoted to the efforts needed to rebuild Ukraine. Franceinfo takes stock of the situation in Ukraine, on the 131st day of the war.
New stage in the east
In the Donbass basin, already partly held by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, the Ukrainian army announced its withdrawal from Lyssytchansk, eight days after evacuating the twin city of Severodonetsk. The Russian head of state ordered his forces to “carry out their missions” in application of “plans already approved”.
Lysychansk was “the last significant population center of the Luhansk region still under Ukrainian control”underlined the British Ministry of Defence. “Russia’s attention will now most certainly turn to conquering the Donetsk region”much of which remains under kyiv control.
The Russian army now seems to be concentrating its efforts on the localities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, shelled relentlessly. The regional governor, Pavlo Kirilenko, reported on Monday ten dead, including two children, the day before in Sloviansk and the surrounding area.
A “Marshall Plan” for Ukraine
At the opening of the conference in Lugano (Switzerland), Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal calculated at “750 billion dollars” the cost of the future reconstruction of Ukraine, suggesting that priority be drawn from the frozen assets of the Russian oligarchs, which he estimates at between 300 and 500 billion dollars.
By videoconference, President Volodymyr Zelensky described this reconstruction as “common task of the whole democratic world” and of “most significant contribution to world peace”.
Dionysius Chmygal met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, whose country currently holds the Presidency of the European Union (EU), and his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki to outline a “Marshall Plan” for Ukraine.
This conference, which is to draw the outlines of the future reconstruction of the country invaded on February 24 on the orders of Vladimir Putin, had been planned well before the war and was initially to focus on reforms in Ukraine and in particular the fight against endemic corruption.
Moscow threatens to go after the whole EU after the expulsion of diplomats
Moscow could go after the entire European Union in response to Bulgaria’s expulsion of 70 members of the Russian diplomatic corps, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Monday.
“Sofia’s politicized decision to unjustifiably reduce our diplomatic staff in Bulgaria will certainly not go unanswered bilaterally,” said Maria Zakharova in a statement from Russian diplomacy.
Believing that the expulsion by Bulgaria would “far beyond diplomatic practice”she urged Sofia and the EU to “to reflect on the principle of reciprocity which underlies diplomatic relations”.
European diplomacy “should understand that ill-considered support for anti-Russian actions by individual Member States imposes on the whole of the European Union responsibility for their consequences, including from the point of view of retaliatory measures on our part”she added.