6:42 am: kyiv promises to "do everything" to defend Donbass
kyiv has pledged to "do everything" to defend the Donbass, where the Russian army is stepping up its offensive, pushing Ukrainian forces to consider a strategic withdrawal to certain front lines in this eastern region of the country in order to avoid encirclement.
"The situation in Donbass is very, very difficult," President Volodimyr Zelensky said in a video address on Friday.
"We protect our land and we do everything to strengthen" the defense of this region, he assured.
The territorial defense of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian separatist "republic" of Donetsk indicated on Telegram that it had "taken complete control" of the key locality of Lyman, with "the support" of the Russian army.
But President Zelensky retorted: "If the occupiers think that Lyman and Severodonetsk will be theirs, they are mistaken. Donbass will be Ukrainian."
10:29 p.m.: ICC prosecutor calls on Russia to cooperate on Ukraine investigation
Russia should cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the court's prosecutor told AFP on Friday.
Karim Khan said Moscow has refused to work with the court since it opened its investigation, but added that its "door is open".
The Briton also insisted that war crimes suspects could be brought to justice, although he declined to say whether Russian President Vladimir Putin might ever be.
With AFP
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