Russian forces continued to advance on Tuesday in the Donbass, an industrial basin in eastern Ukraine that they want to finish conquering, with the city of Sloviansk in their sights, the target of a massive bombardment which caused at least two dead.
The governor of the Donetsk region, to which Sloviansk is attached, Pavlo Kyrylenko, indicated on Telegram that two people had been killed and seven others wounded in these strikes which targeted the central market of the city.
AFP journalists present in Sloviansk during the bombardment saw rockets hitting the market and three others adjacent streets. The market was on fire, with firefighters trying to bring the blaze under control.
“Once again, the Russians are intentionally targeting places where civilians congregate. It is terrorism pure and simple, ”denounced Mr. Kyrylenko, calling for evacuation.
After the fall of Lysytchansk, the centerpiece of the plan to conquer Donbass, on Sunday, Russian forces are advancing west and heading towards this city of some 100,000 inhabitants before the war.
“Sloviansk! Massive bombardment of the city. The center, the north. Everyone stays safe, ”warned Vadim Liakh, the city’s mayor, on Facebook.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to take the rest of Donbass, already partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Lyssyshansk was the last important bastion held by kyiv in the province of Lugansk, one of the two forming the Donbass with that of Donetsk.
On Tuesday morning, Russian troops were advancing west towards Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the two largest cities in Donetsk province, still under Ukrainian control. They were about ten kilometers from the town of Siversk, which they had been shelling for several days, and therefore about fifty kilometers from Sloviansk.
The Russian army said in the morning that it had bombed two Ukrainian command posts in Donetsk. According to the Ukrainian presidency on Tuesday, “at least two civilians were killed and six injured” by Russian shelling in the province.
“European way”
Russian forces also said on Tuesday morning that they had shelled four ammunition and artillery depots in the northeastern Kharkiv region in the past 24 hours, where the Ukrainians said on Monday evening they had repelled Russian assault attempts. .
In the South, Moscow also claimed to have shot down “a Su-25 plane and three drones of Ukrainian forces in the Kherson region”, claims impossible to verify from an independent source. A Russian official from the powerful security services (FSB) took over the government of the area occupied in this region by Russian forces on Tuesday, the local administration announced.
Russia also said on Tuesday that it was investigating torture allegedly suffered by Russian soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces and released during a prisoner swap with Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia, which have carried out several prisoner exchanges, accuse each other of ill-treatment or torture of prisoners.
It is in this context that the two-day international conference organized in Lugano was to end on Tuesday to try to draw the outlines of the future reconstruction of Ukraine, the cost of which kyiv estimates at 750 billion dollars.
Ukraine needs these “colossal funds” to help the population, rebuild cities and infrastructure destroyed by war, but also “prepare schools and universities for a new school year” and “prepare for winter”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday evening.
The declaration adopted on Tuesday in Lugano indicates that the signatories are “fully committed to supporting Ukraine along its journey”.
The document emphasizes that “the recovery process must contribute to accelerating, deepening, broadening and realizing Ukraine’s reform efforts and resilience in line with Ukraine’s European path”.
“Ready to go fast”
“The recovery process must be transparent and accountable to the Ukrainian people,” he said as the prospect of the influx of billions of dollars in aid has revived concerns about corruption, endemic in the country.
In its 2021 report on corruption, the NGO Transparency International ranks Ukraine 122nd out of 180, Russia 136th.
The text insists that the recovery process be “inclusive and guarantee gender equality, and it called for the reconstruction of Ukraine in a” sustainable way.
“When we say we are ready to go fast, we really mean fast,” assured Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal.
The conference, which brings together officials from Ukraine’s allies, international institutions but also the private sector, was planned long before the war triggered on February 24 by the Russian invasion, and was initially to focus on reforms in Ukraine. and in particular the fight against corruption.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to propose the creation of a new fund for Ukraine, which could reach 100 billion euros, according to informed sources.
In Brussels, the thirty member countries of NATO on Tuesday launched the ratification process for the accessions of Sweden and Finland, which will allow the Alliance to organize a united line of defense from the Arctic to the Mediterranean. in the face of Russia’s intrigues, but will also depend on the goodwill of Ankara.
“At 32, we will be even stronger […] at a time when we are facing the most serious security crisis in decades,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“Many allies have prepared for the ratification to be as quick as possible, but it will take several months,” he then warned.
Ukraine also calls on its allies to put pressure on the shipping companies based there to stop transporting goods for Russia and thus help it sell its production and support its economy. Volodymyr Zelensky thus denounced on Tuesday the role of Greek companies in the export of Russian oil.
He also said he “believes” that Belarus, an ally of Moscow, will not be “dragged” into the war waged by Russia against his country.
The consequences of the war on the European economy also continue to cause concern: the euro plunged on Tuesday to its lowest level in almost 20 years against the dollar, approaching parity, carried away by tensions on the energy in Europe caused by the conflict.