Fighting is intensifying in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow on Saturday confirmed the takeover by pro-Russian separatists of the key locality of Lyman, which paves the way for the major cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
On the diplomatic level, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke at length on the telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they asked to start “serious direct negotiations” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as the release of the 2,500 Ukrainian fighters who had entrenched themselves in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol (south-east) and who surrendered to the Russian forces.
In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday morning “that as a result of the joint actions of the units of the militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Russian armed forces, the town of Lyman has been completely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists”.
The territorial defense of this “self-proclaimed” republic by the pro-Russian separatists had indicated on Friday on Telegram to have “taken complete control” of Lyman, with “the support” of the Russian army.
President Zelensky acknowledged that “the situation in this region of Donbass (was) very, very difficult”, with intensive artillery and missile strikes. But he felt that “if the occupiers think that Lyman and Severodonetsk will be theirs, they are mistaken. The Donbass will be Ukrainian”.
After the unsuccessful offensive on kyiv and Kharkiv (north-east) at the start of the war launched by Russia on February 24, Russian forces are concentrated in eastern Ukraine, with the stated objective of taking control total of the Donbass mining basin, partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists supported by Moscow.
“The army destroys the city”
In Severodonetsk, “the bombardments continue […] the (Russian) army simply destroys the city, ”assured on his Telegram account the governor of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaïdaï. According to him, the Russian army entered the outskirts of the city where it suffered “heavy losses”, while the Ukrainian forces tried to dislodge the Russians from a hotel.
But the governor affirms that “Severodonetsk is not cut off” by Russian and separatist forces. Access to humanitarian aid remains possible, he said.
He was responding to a police official from the pro-Russian separatist republic of Lugansk, quoted by the Ria Novosti agency, who said on Friday that “the city of Severodonetsk is currently surrounded” and that Ukrainian troops are trapped there.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry added on Telegram on Saturday that “(the enemy) carried out assault operations in the areas of Severodonetsk, Oskolonivka, Toshkivka districts, in vain, suffered losses and retreated to previously held positions.
According to Mr. Gaïdaï, the capture of Severodonetsk would be “a powerful victory” for the Russian forces, because “their army did not have a great victory and they must feed their population with something”.
show of strength
In a video message, the Ukrainian president on Thursday accused Moscow of “genocide” in the Donbass, where Russian forces are carrying out “deportations” and “mass killings of civilians”.
US President Joe Biden has also used this expression.
For its part, Moscow justified its invasion of Ukraine by a “genocide” that the Ukrainians would carry out against the Russian-speaking population of Donbass.
As Ukraine faces an increasingly critical humanitarian situation, an Australian aid worker was killed this week.
Australia’s Mercury Newspaper reported on Saturday the death of 47-year-old Michael Charles O’Neill, who was helping the injured on the front line. Information confirmed by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, which did not give further details.
On Saturday in Mariupol, a southeastern city that the Russians pounded for three months before finally seizing it last week, a first cargo boat entered the port, according to the official Russian news agency TASS quoting a door -word of the Pro-Russian Port Authority.
The Ukrainian Navy reacted on Facebook calling the announcement “manipulative” because it says “while continuing to disregard the norms of international maritime law, Russia’s ship groups continue to block civilian navigation in the waters of the seas. Black and Azov”.
Embargo
While Ukraine, a major agricultural power, can no longer export its cereals due to the blocking of its ports, Vladimir Putin assured, during his conversation with MM. Macron and Scholz, that his country was “ready” to help an “unfettered” export of grain from Ukraine.
“Russia is ready to help find options for unhindered export of grain, including Ukrainian grain from ports on the Black Sea,” said a Kremlin statement released after the telephone conversation.
According to Mr. Putin, the difficulties related to food deliveries were caused by “a wrong economic and financial policy of Western countries, as well as anti-Russian sanctions” imposed by these countries.
During the telephone interview, Vladimir Putin also considered “dangerous to continue to flood Ukraine with Western weapons”, warning against the risks of “further destabilization”, according to the Kremlin.
He made these remarks after a new show of force on Saturday in the Arctic of the Russian army, with the firing of a Zircon hypersonic missile. The device, which left the frigate Admiral Gorchkov, in the Barents Sea, “successfully” hit a target in the waters of the White Sea, 1,000 km away, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
American media have claimed that Washington is preparing the delivery of long-range multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to kyiv, which is desperately demanding them to counter the deluge of Russian fire.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby did not confirm the dispatch of the MLRS M270s – highly mobile modern vehicles with a firing range of 300 km – mentioned by the press. But he assured that the United States would continue to help Ukraine “win on the battlefield”.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also reaffirmed his country’s support, “including helping to provide the necessary equipment”, in a telephone conversation with Mr Zelensky on Saturday, according to London.
The Russian president assured that Russia remained “open to a resumption of dialogue” with kyiv to resolve the armed conflict, while peace negotiations with Ukraine have been stalled since March, according to the same source.
For his part, President Zelensky is expected to address Monday by videoconference to EU leaders gathered in Brussels. They are expected to re-address the proposed EU embargo on Russian oil, still blocked by Hungary.