New field gains for Russia in Ukraine.. America is determined to drain Putin and UN data on the numbers of dead and refugees

Russian forces made new territorial gains in eastern Ukraine, capturing more villages and towns.

While the United States announced on Friday its intention to drain Putin in Ukraine so that he would not invade another country, the United Nations published recent data on the numbers of dead and refugees.

With the Russian war on Ukraine entering its tenth week, field developments indicate the continued concentration of battles in the eastern and southeastern regions, as Kyiv and the Western powers supporting it have acknowledged the progress of the Russian forces in recent days.

The Ukrainian General Staff said - this evening, Friday - that the Russian operations in the east are aimed at the complete control of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and the road to the Crimea.

Ukrainian officials acknowledged that there had been heavy losses as a result of the Russian attack on the eastern regions, as the attacking forces had captured a number of towns and villages since the offensive began last week, but they said that the Russian losses were heavier.

"We have suffered great losses, but the Russian losses are much greater," said Oleksiy Aristovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president.

And the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia is bombing the entire front line in the Donetsk region (east of the country) with missiles, artillery, mortars and aircraft.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Russia was bombing positions along the line of contact to prevent the Ukrainians from regrouping.

For its part, Britain said that fierce fighting took place in the vicinity of the cities of Lyschansk and Severodonetsk, the main part of the Donbass region that Russia is still trying to control.

Fierce battles

Al-Jazeera correspondent Omar Al-Hajj said that the confrontations between the Russian and Ukrainian forces on the Parvenkova front south of Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine) raged during the past 24 hours.

He explained that the Russian forces are now 20 kilometers from the city, and that they have escalated their bombardment using missiles and heavy artillery.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Fadi Mansour stated that the Ukrainian forces are still in control of the northern Kherson region (southern of the country), days after Russia announced its control over all the borders of the region.

During a tour of the region, the reporter spotted Ukrainian reinforcements southeast of Mykolaiv, where several shells fell while he was trying to enter the Kherson province.

The bloodiest battle and the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the war took place in Mariupol - the coastal city in the east of the country - which was devastated by Russian bombing and siege for two months.

The Ukrainian president's office said an evacuation was planned on Friday to get civilians out of the huge Azovstal industrial complex in Mariupol, where hundreds of civilians are holed up in underground bunkers with the last Ukrainian forces defending the city.

Ukrainian authorities say that 100,000 civilians are still in the city, most of which are now controlled by Russian forces.

S-300 . system

On the other hand, the Southern Ukrainian Air Force Command announced that it had received an S-300 air defense system from a friendly country, without disclosing it.

She added that the system significantly strengthened its air defenses in the southern region, after the Russian forces focused their offensive operations on the eastern and southern fronts, after they withdrew from the vicinity of the capital, Kyiv, weeks ago.

Western reports say that Ukraine had about 100 operating batteries of the S-300 system when Russia launched its war on its neighbor on February 24, but their number decreased due to the Russian attacks.

In the context of the growing Western support for the Ukrainian forces, Polish media said that Warsaw had delivered to Kyiv 200 T-72 tanks, in addition to dozens of armored vehicles.

Kyiv bombing

In the capital, Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that emergency teams retrieved - today, Friday - a body from under the rubble of an apartment building in the Shevchenkivsky district (west of the capital), which was bombed by the Russian army with two missiles - yesterday evening, Thursday - during the visit of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. for the city.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces destroyed missile and space industries facilities in Kyiv, and that the Russian Air Force targeted 112 Ukrainian military facilities, including 4 missile and artillery weapons depots.

On Friday, Moscow also announced that it had used a diesel-powered submarine in the Black Sea to strike Ukrainian military targets with Kalibr cruise missiles, which is the first time that the Russian army has announced the use of its fleet of submarines in bombing operations.

The Russian Defense Ministry released a video clip showing a barrage of Kalibr missiles launching from the sea and flying over the horizon towards what the ministry said were Ukrainian military targets.

On the other hand, the United Nations said that at least 2,899 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian war.

She also indicated - in a statement issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - that the number of refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries reached 5 million and 429 thousand, more than half of them sought refuge in Poland.

Pentagon Estimates

US estimates indicate that Russian forces are preparing for a larger and longer offensive in eastern Ukraine, according to a senior US Defense Department official (Pentagon) on Friday.

The same source indicated that the Russian forces use artillery and air strikes before the ground movements in the Donbass region.

For his part, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the US administration will provide sufficient funding to support Ukraine for five months if Congress approves the supplementary budget presented by President Joe Biden, worth 33 billion dollars.

Kirby stressed that one of the strategic goals of the United States is to weaken Russia to the point where it is unable to repeat its war against other countries.

The Pentagon spokesman also called for the protection of the sovereignty of Moldova, which borders Ukraine, noting that this country has fears that it will be the next target for the Russians after Ukraine.

Kirby stated that Ukrainian forces are being trained in 3 locations outside Ukraine, including Germany.

Politically, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said - on Friday - that there are great possibilities for stopping peace talks with Moscow, noting that this is due to popular anger over what he said are atrocities committed by Russian forces.

In the same context, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency stated that the proposed meeting between Zelensky and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, "will not take place soon, unfortunately, as Turkey said, but we have to wait."

At the same time, Kyiv called on the European Union to take steps to ban Russian oil imports, and Zelensky's office director said that a "gradual embargo of Russian oil" should be included in the sixth package of sanctions.

The New York Times quoted sources as saying that the European Union is likely to agree next week to a phased embargo on Russian oil.