The Russian army continues to advance in eastern Ukraine, where the situation is “extremely difficult” for the forces of kyiv, according to President Zelensky, who fears massive destruction and denounces the “lack of unity” of the West behind his country.
The Russians are trying at all costs to tighten their grip on the Lugansk region, where they “are advancing in all directions at once”, regional governor on the Ukrainian side, Serguiï Gaïdaï, said on Telegram on Wednesday.
Moscow has decided to intensify its offensive in the Donbass, formed by the regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, which the Ukrainians are struggling to defend, after having moved Russian forces away from the country’s two largest cities, kyiv and Kharkiv (northeast)
“The situation in the Donbass is extremely difficult,” President Zelensky acknowledged on Tuesday evening. According to him, the Russians “want to destroy everything” in the region.
On Wednesday morning, he called for the “support of a united Europe”, deploring the lack of cohesion of Westerners in the face of this war which has just entered its fourth month, during a speech by videoconference at the economic forum. of Davos (Switzerland).
“We will have the advantage over Russia when we are all really united”, he said again, regretting in particular the disagreements about the membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO or a total embargo on the purchase of Russian gas and oil.
kyiv has urged Westerners to deliver more armaments, including “heavy weapons”.
It is in particular to defend the Donbass, partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists, from an alleged “genocide”, that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
“We will continue the special military operation until all objectives are achieved,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu insisted on Tuesday, adding that Moscow was preparing to carry out a long offensive in Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces, Moscow is making more use of its air force to support its troops on the ground and “destroy essential and military infrastructure”.
A new Mariupol?
In the Donbass, the Governor General reported “increasingly intense bombardments” and affirmed that “the Russian army aims to completely destroy Severodonetsk”, a strategic city northwest of Lugansk.
Governor Gaïdaï fears for his part that the Russian forces will attack Lugansk as well as Mariupol, a large port city in the south-east which they conquered after weeks of siege and bombardments which practically razed it.
The Russians encircle Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk, two localities separated by a river and which constitute the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance.
Fighting is also underway for control of the town of Lyman, an important railway junction whose capture would be a major step forward in these attempts to encircle it, the leader of the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said during a broadcast. pro-Kremlin broadcast on YouTube.
On the southern front, the situation remains stable, although the Ukrainians claim territorial gains there.
In Mykolaiv (south), a few km from territories controlled by the Russian army, daily life remains very difficult, at the rate of shortages, in particular of water, which are increasing.
The sound of artillery rumbles in the distance and anti-aerial bombardment sirens sound at times, but Anna Bondar patiently waits her turn to fill up on drinking water. At 79, she has a bedridden husband and spends two to three hours a day bringing water home. “I’m very tired,” she told AFP.
Since fighting knocked out a pipeline in April and cut off access to water, residents have been walking, driving and cycling in search of water tankers.
A few dozen kilometers to the east is Kherson, the only region of Ukraine completely conquered by the Russian army, and where a group of journalists, including those from AFP, were able to go, accompanied by Russian armored vehicles. .
In the city, the administration put in place by Moscow is loudly calling for annexation. The inhabitants, those who have not left, wall themselves in an anxious silence.
100 km to the south, in the small seaside resort of Skadovsk, passers-by politely apologize when an AFP journalist wants to ask them about life under Russian control.
Except Vera Mironenko, a mother of three children. “Everyone lives on their savings, businesses are closed,” she said, referring to “stratospheric prices” and the absence of drugs. “We are patient while waiting for life to get better […] whatever the power, ”she adds, a bit fatalistic.
Increasing its pressure on Russia, the United States announced the end of an exemption allowing Moscow to pay its debts in dollars. This decision could precipitate Russia, which has a dozen payments to honor by the end of the year, into default.
At the Davos Forum, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis announced that his country would organize a “Ukraine reconstruction conference” on July 4 and 5, bringing together the World Bank, the OECD and the European Union (EU). .
The EU is still discussing an embargo on Russian oil, which requires the unanimity of member countries, and which is opposed in particular by Hungary, which is very dependent on Russian oil. “Something is wrong with Hungary! President Zelensky said on Wednesday.
In three months of armed conflict, 234 children have been killed and 433 injured, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova denounced on Tuesday.
In total, thousands of civilians and soldiers perished, without there being a quantified toll. For the city of Mariupol alone, the Ukrainian authorities speak of 20,000 dead.
More than eight million Ukrainians have been internally displaced, according to the UN. Added to this are 6.5 million who have fled abroad, more than half of them — 3.4 million — to Poland.