On the 110th day of the war in Ukraine, Russian forces are consolidating their positions in the east of the country. the “human cost” of the Battle of Sievierodonetsk is “creepy”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday, June 13. Franceinfo summarizes the main facts of the day.
The Ukrainian army abandons the center of Severodonetsk to the Russians
Ukrainian forces admitted on Monday that they had abandoned the center of Sievierodonetsk, following a new Russian offensive on this key city in eastern Ukraine. “With artillery support, the enemy stormed Severodonetsk, achieved partial success and pushed our units back from the city center. Hostilities continue”the Ukrainian General Staff said on Monday morning.
Sergei Gaïdaï, governor of the Lugansk region – of which Sievierodonetsk is the administrative center for the part controlled by the Ukrainian authorities – confirmed that the Ukrainian forces had been pushed back from the center. “The street fighting continues (…) the Russians continue to destroy the city”he wrote on Facebook, posting photos of devastated buildings in flames. “The human cost of this battle for us is very high. It is just terrifying”said the Ukrainian president in his daily address to Ukrainians broadcast on Telegram.
According to pro-Russian separatists fighting with the Russians in this region, the last Ukrainian divisions in Sievierodonetsk are now “blocked”after the destruction of the last bridge which made it possible to reach the neighboring town of Lyssytchansk. “They have two possibilities (..), surrender or die”, said Edouard Bassourine, spokesman for the separatists. On his side, Sergey Gaïdaï denied any encirclement.
Ukraine has lost “a quarter of its arable land”
Ukraine has lost a quarter of its arable land due to the Russian occupation of certain regions, in the south and east, its agriculture ministry announced on Monday, while being reassuring. “Despite the loss of 25% of arable land, the structure of crops sown this year is more than sufficient to ensure consumption” of the Ukrainian population,” Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotsky told a press conference.
According to him, “consumption has also decreased due to massive displacements [de population] and external migrations”, out of the country. More than seven million Ukrainians are internally displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Added to this are 7.3 million who have fled abroad, more than half of them to Poland.
“Ukrainian farmers managed to prepare relatively well for sowing before the start of the war”added Taras Vysotsky. “In February, Ukraine had already imported about 70% of the necessary fertilizers, 60% of the phytosanitary products and about a third of the required amount of fuel” for sowing, he detailed. Russia and Ukraine together account for 30% of world wheat exports.
Four villages in northern Ukraine evacuated due to Russian strikes
Three Russian strikes hit the town of Prylouky in northern Ukraine. No details were provided on the targeted infrastructure in Prylouky which houses a military airfield. After these bombardments, the evacuation of four villages – Zaïzd, Petrivské, Tykhé and Sukhostavets – was ordered, indicated the person in charge for the civil defense of the area, Serguiï Boldyrev, quoted by the media Souspilné. “There is a threat of fire spreading”he explained.
After the withdrawal of Russian troops in early April from the kyiv region and the north, this region is relatively spared from the fighting between the Ukrainian and Russian armies.
France wants to reassess its military spending
The Russian offensive in Ukraine has generated, for France, “an entry into a war economy in which I believe we will have to organize ourselves in the long term”said Emmanuel Macron, Monday. The Head of State made this declaration at the opening of the Eurosatory exhibition, the largest international land defense and security exhibition in Villepinte, north-east of Paris.
The French president therefore wants a “revaluation” of the military programming law (LPM) 2019-2025 for “adjust the means to the threats”. “I have asked the Minister (of the Armed Forces) and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces to be able to carry out in the coming weeks a reassessment of this Military Programming Law in the light of the geopolitical context”he said.
In 2017, Paris began a sharp rise in defense loans after years of scarcity. The budget of the Ministry of the Armed Forces will again grow in 2022, to 40.9 billion euros, in accordance with the LPM 2019-2025 which plans to reach 50 billion euros in 2025. The president did not, however, specify whether he intended to increase the defense budget more than expected or whether it was a matter of reviewing priorities.