Russian and pro-Russian forces continue their advance in Donbass. They now fully occupy the city of Sievierodonetsk and have entered the neighboring city of Lysychansk. Franceinfo looks back on what to remember from the day.
Moscow wants to arm Belarus
Russia will deliver “in the coming months” to Belarus missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday while receiving his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. “We are going to transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions”said the Russian leader.
The two leaders also assured that they wanted to modernize Belarusian aviation to make it capable of carrying nuclear weapons. “Many Su-25 (aircraft) are in service with the Belarusian army. They could be upgraded in an appropriate way. This modernization should be carried out in aircraft factories in Russia and training of personnel should begin in accordance with that”said Vladimir Putin.
Sievierodonetsk is in the hands of the Kremlin
The city located in the Donbass is now “entirely occupied by the Russians”, announced Saturday its mayor, Oleksandre Striouk. Moscow has made the conquest of the Donbass industrial basin its priority for several weeks. The Ukrainian army announced Thursday its withdrawal from this locality to better defend the neighboring town of Lyssytchansk.
Russian and pro-Russian forces entered in Lysychansk
Of the “street fights” are taking place in this neighboring town of Sievierodonetsk, the separatists present in eastern Ukraine said on Saturday. “Some businesses in the city have already been taken”said on Telegram a representative of the pro-Russian separatists, Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Marochko. This announcement has not been independently confirmed immediately.
“Massive bombardment” from Belarus towards Chernihiv
Missiles were fired from Belarus, a diplomatic ally of Moscow, towards the Chernihiv border region, northeast of kyiv, the Ukrainian army said. “There were no victims” at this point assumed the northern command of the Ukrainian troops. According to the mUkrainian media Sevodnia, iThis is the first case of an airstrike on Ukraine directly from Belarusian territory.
kyiv demands “fire parity”
Ukraine urges its allies to finally give it the “fire parity” with Russian forces to “stabilize” the situation in the Donbass after the withdrawal of its troops to Sievierodonetsk. kyiv continues to demand more heavy weapons from its allies to counter Russian strike power, particularly in this industrial region in the east of the country, already partially under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014, and which Moscow has sworn to to conquer in full.