The Russian army is tightening its grip in eastern Ukraine on Thursday. On the 99th day of war, Russian forces currently control “around 20%” Ukrainian territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday June 2. Here’s what to remember from the day.
The Russian military controls nearly 125,000 square kilometers
Three months after the start of the invasion, Russian forces currently control “around 20%” Ukrainian territory, nearly 125,000 square kilometres, according to the Ukrainian head of state. The Russian army tightens its grip on the strategic city of Sievierodonetsk. After the failure of the lightning offensive to bring down the kyiv regime, the forces are indeed concentrating on the conquest of Donbass.
In Sievierodonetsk, now the administrative capital of the Luhansk region, “80% of the city is occupied” and street fighting is raging, said the governor of the region, Serguiï Gaïdaï, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday. Ukrainian leaders have in recent days accused Moscow of wanting to make Sievierodonetsk a “new Mariupol”.
The West must prepare for a “war of attrition”
“We have to be prepared for the long term.” Western countries must prepare “to a war of attrition” on the “long term” in Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Thursday, June 2, after his meeting with US President Joe Biden. Jens Stoltenberg is visiting Washington to prepare for the NATO summit scheduled for June 28-30 in Madrid.
Reiterating that NATO did not wish to enter into direct confrontation with Russia, its secretary general nevertheless underlined that the Western military alliance had “the responsibility” to support Ukraine. “Most wars, and surely this war, are eventually ended through negotiations, but what we do know is that what happens at the negotiating table is very intimately tied to the situation on the ground. field, on the battlefield”he added.
Europeans will be the first “to suffer” from the oil embargo, according to Moscow
The Europeans will be the first to “suffer” of the oil embargo decided within the framework of the European sanctions against Russia for its intervention in Ukraine, declared the Russian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Energy. “Not only the prices of oil, but also those of petroleum products will increase. I do not exclude that there is a large deficit of petroleum products in the EU”said Alexander Novak in an interview broadcast on Russian television.
Washington sanctions several Russian oligarchs
The United States announced a new round of sanctions, hoping to induce Moscow to give up the war in Ukraine. Among the new oligarchs or members of Moscow referred to, are the close friend and “financial” of vladimir Putin, Sergei Pavlovich Roldougin, the superyacht brokerage company for Russian oligarchs Imperial Yachts, or even the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova.