War in Ukraine: fighting rages, Russia advances in the Lugansk region

Europe 1 with AFP 07:05, May 25, 2022

Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, with Russia stepping up its offensive there against the last pocket of resistance in the Lugansk region where the situation was "worsening hour by hour", according to Ukrainian authorities.

Russia said it was determined to achieve "all its objectives" in Ukraine, and in particular the conquest of Donbass (east), formed by the provinces of Lugansk and Donetsk, which the Ukrainians are struggling to defend, after having driven away the Russian forces of the two largest cities in the country, kyiv and Kharkiv (north-east).

"We are continuing the special military operation until all objectives are achieved," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday.

"The situation in the Donbass is extremely difficult," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted Tuesday evening.

"In fact, all the forces that the Russian army still has have been thrown there for the offensive."

The main information:

- Russian troops are concentrating their efforts on the Lugansk region

- Zelensky demanded from the West "heavy weapons: rocket-propelled grenades, tanks, anti-ship weapons and other weapons"

- In three months of armed conflict, 234 children have been killed and 433 injured

Moscow focuses on the Lugansk region

In fact, Moscow is concentrating its firepower on the Lugansk region, seeking to surround the towns of Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk.

Fighting is underway for control of the city of Lyman, an important railway junction whose capture would constitute significant progress in these attempts to encircle, said the leader of the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin.

"Russian units and people's militia (the pro-Russian separatist army) have entered the city," he said during a pro-Kremlin broadcast on Youtube, this information being impossible to verify in the news. immediate.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also spoke of intense fighting in the vicinity of the localities of Popasna and Bakhmout, the fall of which would give the Russians control of an important crossroads for the Ukrainian war effort.

In this sector, "the enemy has improved its tactical position", admitted Tuesday morning the staff of the Ukrainian army, according to which "the greatest hostile activity" is observed "near Lyssytchansk and Severodonetsk".

Very violent fights 

"The situation is very difficult and unfortunately it is only getting worse. It is getting worse day by day, hour by hour," Lugansk region governor Sergey Gaidai said later in the evening.

"The bombardments are more and more intense" and "the Russian army has decided to completely destroy Severodonetsk", a strategic city which "is being eliminated from the surface of the Earth", he added.

The governor compared Severodonetsk to Mariupol, a large port city in the south-east practically razed to the ground after several weeks of siege and bombing.

"From today we can say that (the Russians) are trying to carry out a large-scale attack," he concluded.

Two pro-Russian separatist republics were proclaimed in 2014 in the Donbass.

It was in particular to defend them from an alleged "genocide" that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Gradual return to normal, on the other hand, in Kharkiv (northeast), where the metro, which for months served as a shelter against bombs, was put back into service on Tuesday.

Ukrainian forces shell Russian positions with Western artillery systems

The southern front appears stable, although the Ukrainians are claiming territorial gains there.

The southern command of the Ukrainian army reported, on the night of Monday to Tuesday, an "advance" of its divisions "through the Mykolaiv region towards the Kherson region", controlled by the Russians.

He accused the "occupiers" of killing civilians trying to flee by car.

Ukrainian forces are now pounding Russian positions with newly delivered Western artillery systems, in particular American howitzers, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army told AFP.

For his part, the mayor of Mariupol, Vadim Boïtchenko, accused, in a video communication with the economic conference of Davos (Switzerland), "the Russian occupation forces" of behaving in a "terrorist state".

Conversely, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in its daily briefing that the marine area of ​​the port of Mariupol has been cleared and that operations are underway to "restore port infrastructure".

He added that a "humanitarian corridor" will be opened on Wednesday morning towards the Black Sea to allow "the safe exit of foreign ships" still present in the port.

Zelensky calls for heavy weapons

In this context, kyiv urges the West to deliver more armaments.

"The Russian offensive in the Donbass is a ruthless battle, the largest on European soil since the Second World War. I urge our partners to speed up the delivery of arms and ammunition," the Ukrainian minister said on Tuesday. of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kouleba.

President Zelensky himself called for "heavy weapons: rocket-propelled grenades, tanks, anti-ship weapons and other weapons".

Polish President Andrzej Duda, whose country has supplied Ukraine with its Soviet T-72 tanks, criticized Berlin on Tuesday for dithering on the delivery of German Leopard armor, promised to Poland in return.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock acknowledged that there was discussion, with the weekly Der Spiegel claiming that these were due to Warsaw's request to receive latest generation tanks.

For his part, the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, much criticized in his country, announced Tuesday that he would not join the supervisory board of the Russian gas giant Gazprom.

Increasing its pressure on Russia, the United States has decided to end, from Wednesday 04:01 GMT, an exemption allowing Moscow to pay its debts in dollars, announced Tuesday the American Treasury.

This decision could precipitate Russia, which has a dozen payments to honor by the end of the year, into default.

At the Davos Forum, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis announced that his country would organise, on July 4 and 5, a "conference for the reconstruction of Ukraine", which should notably address the question of the announced and future contributions of the World Bank. , the OECD and the European Union (EU).

The EU was still discussing an embargo on Russian oil on Tuesday, which requires the unanimity of member countries.

Germany and France have deemed it possible to achieve this in the coming days, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country is very dependent on Russian oil, has deemed this prospect "very unlikely" in the immediate future.

The Hungarian leader, citing the repercussions of the war, also declared a state of emergency on Tuesday from midnight in his country, a decision denounced by the NGO for the defense of civil liberties TASZ.

Hundreds of children killed or injured 

In three months of armed conflict, 234 children have been killed and 433 injured, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova denounced on Tuesday.

In total, thousands of civilians and soldiers perished, without there being a quantified toll.

For the city of Mariupol alone, the Ukrainian authorities speak of 20,000 dead.

More than eight million Ukrainians have been internally displaced, according to the UN.

Added to this are 6.5 million who have fled abroad, more than half of them - 3.4 million - to Poland.

The repression continues in Russia: a Moscow court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of two bloggers accused of discrediting the action of the army in Ukraine.

The Russian deputies adopted in first reading a bill which should make it possible to close, on simple decision of the parquet floor, the foreign media accused of disseminating false information on the war in Ukraine.

Imprisoned opponent Alexeï Navalny used an appeal trial, which unsurprisingly confirmed his 9-year prison sentence, to denounce in turn a "war based on a super lie".