The Ukrainian army said on Sunday that it repelled Russian attacks near Severodonetsk, in the east of the country, the scene of bloody fighting in a war that could last “years” according to NATO.
“Our units repelled the assault in the Tochkivka region,” the Ukrainian military said on Facebook. “The enemy has retreated and is regrouping.”
The local governor, Sergei Gaïdaï, described as “lies” the idea according to which the Russians controlled the strategic locality of Severodonetsk. “Indeed, they control the majority of the city but they don’t control it entirely,” he said on Telegram.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense affirmed on Sunday that “the offensive against Severodonetsk is proceeding successfully”. “Units of the people’s militia of the People’s Republic of Lugansk, supported by the Russian armed forces, liberated the locality of Metolkine”, southeast of Severodonetsk.
The Russian ministry also claimed to have hit a factory in Mykolaiv (south) with cruise missiles, and destroyed “ten 155 mm M777 howitzers and up to twenty armored vehicles supplied to the kyiv regime by the West during the past ten days. Statements impossible to verify from an independent source.
As Ukraine shows its determination to fight to the end, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that Western countries must be ready to offer long-term support to kyiv during a bitter war.
The war could last “for years”, he warned in an interview published Sunday by the German daily Bild, urging Western countries to register their support for kyiv in the long term.
“We must not falter in supporting Ukraine, even though the costs are high, not only in terms of military support but also due to rising energy and food prices,” he said. said the head of NATO.
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Russian forces have been concentrating their firepower on eastern and southern Ukraine in recent weeks since their failed attempt to take the capital kyiv after a February 24 lightning invasion.
“The losses are significant. Many houses have been destroyed, civilian logistics have been disrupted, there are many social problems,” conceded Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited the southern front on Saturday. He assured Sunday that his troops had maintained morale and “that no one doubts” the victory.
During this rare visit outside kyiv, where he barricaded himself at the start of the conflict when the capital was threatened by the Russian army, Mr. Zelensky traveled to the city of Mykolaiv near the Black Sea, visiting troops stationed nearby and in the neighboring region of Odessa.
“We won’t give the South to anyone, we’ll take everything back, and the sea will be Ukrainian, it will be safe,” he said in a video posted on Telegram as he returned to Kyiv.
Want to live
“We will definitely rebuild everything that was destroyed. Russia does not have as many missiles as our people want to live,” he added.
Mr Zelensky thanked the soldiers, who are containing the surge of Russian troops, supported in the east from annexed Crimea, for their “heroic service”.
“As long as you are alive, there is a strong Ukrainian wall protecting our country,” he told them.
A video, released by the presidency, showed him in Mykolaiv with the local governor, Vitaliy Kim, in front of the gaping facade of the headquarters of the regional administration, hit by a Russian strike in March which left 37 dead.
This port and industrial city of almost half a million inhabitants before the war is still under Ukrainian control, but it is close to the Kherson region, almost entirely occupied by the Russians. A Russian strike killed two people and injured 20 on Friday.
It remains a target of Moscow because it is on the road to Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port, 130 km to the south-west near Moldova, also still under Ukrainian control and at the center of discussions on the blocked export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain.
Russia, which controls this area of the Black Sea despite the firing of Ukrainian missiles against its ships, explains that the waters are mined.
In Odessa, the inhabitants try to contribute to the war effort as they can. “Every day, including weekends, I come to make camouflage nets for the army,” says Natalia Pinchenkova, 49.
In Mykolaiv, Ukrainian soldiers are struggling to maintain their pre-war routines, with one saying he won’t give up his vegan diet while on the front line.
Oleksandr Zhuhan said he received a package from a network of volunteers to maintain his diet. “There was pâté and vegan sausages, hummus, soy milk […] and all that for free, ”rejoiced the 37-year-old theater teacher.
Prepare for the worst
In the Donbass region (east), fierce fighting is raging in particular near Severodonetsk, partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014 and where Russia, after failing to take kyiv in the first weeks of its offensive, has set itself aim to take full control.
“An expression says: you have to prepare for the worst and the best will come by itself”, said Saturday in an interview with AFP Serguiï Gaïdaï, governor of the Lugansk region, which notably houses the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. .
“Of course we have to prepare,” added the man who repeatedly warned that the Russians would end up surrounding Lyssytchansk by cutting off its main supply routes.
In Lysychansk “the situation is difficult, in the city and in the whole region”, he stressed, because the Russians “are bombarding our positions 24 hours a day”.
Do without Putin’s gas
Finally, on the gas front, the flow of which Russia massively reduced this week to Western Europe, Germany, the first target, announced on Sunday that it was taking measures to return to more coal, a polluting energy that it planned to drop out by 2030.
“It’s bitter, but (the use of coal) is essential to reduce gas consumption,” said Ecologist Minister of Economy and Climate Robert Habeck.
“There should be no illusions, we are in a showdown with Putin,” he added.
As for the Italian group ENI, also very dependent on deliveries from Moscow, Qatar announced on Sunday that it is joining the French TotalEnergies in the North Field East (NFE) project, which aims to increase the production of liquefied natural gas by 60% ( LNG) of the Gulf countries by 2027.