The Ukrainian army announced on Tuesday that it had recaptured a town and repelled Russian attacks in the eastern Donbass region, while Moscow announced the start of the second phase of the military operation in Ukraine, the United States and other Western countries pledged to supply Kyiv with additional weapons, and tighten sanctions against Russia.

After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Russia had started the Donbass battle in order to control the territory, parts of which have been under the control of pro-Moscow separatists since 2014, the Ukrainian army confirmed today that it repelled 3 attacks by Russian forces in the Donbass regions, killing more than 30 of them.

He also said that he launched a counterattack and recaptured the town of Marinka in Donetsk, destroyed two tanks and 10 vehicles and downed a Russian helicopter during today's battles, noting that the Russians intensified their attack along the front line in the east.

In this context, the head of the Donetsk Military Administration in the Donbass region announced that the Russian bombing targeted most of the front lines in the region.

On the first day of the massive Russian offensive in the Donbass, fighting is taking place on several axes in the region. On Monday, Russian forces captured the town of Kremina, which before the war had a population of 18,000, located 50 kilometers northeast of the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk.

While the Ukrainian forces sent reinforcements to the fighting fronts in Donbass, a senior US Defense Department official stated that Russia had deployed 11 additional battalions in eastern Ukraine, bringing to 76 the number of its combat battalions inside Ukrainian territory.

The Ukrainian president's advisor told Al Jazeera that the Ukrainian forces have the capabilities and experience to repel the Russian attack on Donbass, adding that Russia has been dreaming of occupying Donbass since 2014, and wants to obtain a symbolic victory by trying to control the region.

In separate statements, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency said that the Russian leadership intends to declare victory by May 9, but it will not succeed in this endeavor, as he put it.

Because of the intensification of battles between the Ukrainian forces on the one hand and the Russian forces and the separatist forces in the eastern regions, no civilians will be evacuated from the fighting areas, for the third day in a row.


second stage

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed today the start of the next phase of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.

Lavrov said that this stage will be very important, as he put it.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed that the Russian military operations are proceeding according to the set plan, and during a meeting held at the Russian Defense Ministry, the United States accused Western countries of trying to prolong the military operation by increasing their arms supplies to the Kyiv authorities.

Simultaneously, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russian aviation had targeted 60 Ukrainian military sites on Monday evening, and talked about the downing of a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft in Donetsk region of Donbass.


Mariupol battles

As the battles continued on several fronts in the east and south, the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that the besieged city of Mariupol (south) had not yet fallen, while Moscow called again for the surrender of the Ukrainian forces that are still resisting inside the city.

An adviser to the Ukrainian presidency said that the Russian forces have so far failed to extend their control over Mariupol, stressing that the Russians are bombing the "Azov Stall" factory where Ukrainian forces are holed up with anti-fortification bombs.

The Ukrainian official added that negotiations with Russia would stop if it captured Mariupol.

The deadline offered by the Russian Defense Ministry to the besieged Ukrainian soldiers at the Azovstal Factory in Mariupol had expired, and the Russian army had promised to guarantee the safety of Ukrainian soldiers if they left the factory through a safe passage.

For its part, the nationalist Azov battalion fighting alongside the Ukrainian army in Mariupol published photos that it said were "the operations of destroying enemy vehicles."

The commander of the Azov battalion also appealed to world leaders to open a corridor to evacuate and protect hundreds of civilians and injured soldiers from the industrial complex in Mariupol.

In other field developments, the Southern Operations Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that the Russian army is continuing its attempts to advance to the administrative borders of the Mykolaiv region (south).

In Odessa (south), the Ukrainian statement said that the Russian navy's movements in the Black Sea prompted taking into account the danger of the landing process.

For his part, the mayor of Kharkiv, Igor Terekhov, said that the Russian bombing has continued on the city's neighborhoods since last Sunday, confirming that 15 people were killed and more than 50 others were wounded during the past 36 hours.

On the other hand, Ukraine said today that it had recovered 60 soldiers and 16 civilians as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia, without mentioning the number of Russians who were replaced in the operation.


weapon supplies

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said after videoconferences with the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that his country plans to send more artillery to Ukraine.

A Pentagon spokesman also said that the United States had helped facilitate the shipment of some spare parts to Ukraine, but had not shipped entire aircraft, adding that there were no indications that the Russians had targeted Western equipment or arms shipments destined for Kiev.

A US official had said before that that additional military aid to Ukraine on 7 flights would arrive within 24 hours.

For his part, the Ukrainian president's adviser told Al Jazeera that there is an ongoing dialogue between Ukrainian Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and US Joe Biden to provide his country with more weapons.

The Ukrainian official demanded that his country wanted to supply it with weapons that would help it defend itself and win the naval battle as well.

In London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to provide Ukraine with more military support, especially artillery.

In turn, German Chancellor Olaf Schulz said that Ukraine will be provided with long-range artillery, and said that the Russian President bears responsibility for war crimes in Ukraine.

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said when asked if the Biden administration would announce a new package of sanctions against Russia this week that her country was considering imposing more sanctions on Russia.

In the same context, the Italian government announced that the United States and the European Union reached, during today's video talks between Western leaders, a broad understanding on the need to intensify pressure on the Kremlin, especially by imposing new sanctions on Russia.


humanitarian truce

As the fighting escalated, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres today called for a 4-day humanitarian truce to mark Easter.

Guterres said he calls for a freeze in hostilities in Ukraine on humanitarian grounds, to provide safe passage for civilians to leave conflict areas, and for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the most affected areas.