Europe 1 with AFP 7:31 a.m., June 5, 2022, modified at 7:31 a.m., June 5, 2022
'Street fighting' unfolds in strategic eastern Ukrainian city Severodonetsk, where Moscow's forces are throwing all their weight to control the entire Donbass mining basin, as explosions sound in kyiv Sunday morning.
Air raid warnings sounded in many other cities across the country.
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"The situation in Severodonetsk, where street fighting continues, remains extremely difficult," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video released overnight from Saturday to Sunday, deploring "air raids, artillery and missile fire constants".
The mayor of the capital Vitali Klitschko reported in the morning several explosions in the districts of Darnytsky and Dnipropetrovsky.
Air raid warnings sounded in many other cities across the country.
Information to remember:
Several explosions heard this morning in kyiv
Moscow claims to have destroyed two Ukrainian command centers
The city remains at the heart of the Russian offensive in the Donbass mining basin, an eastern region under the partial control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014 and which Moscow hopes to conquer in full.
The state of forces there remains unclear.
According to Russia on Saturday, Ukrainian soldiers were withdrawing from the city.
"Units of the Ukrainian army, having suffered critical losses during the fighting for Severodonetsk (up to 90% in several units), are falling back to Lyssytchansk", a neighboring locality, assured the Russian Ministry of Defense.
But kyiv claims to fight to reconquer the city.
The Russian troops "succeeded in entering the city and seizing a good part of it, dividing it in two. But our soldiers managed to redeploy, to build a line of defence. Currently, we are doing everything necessary to restore full control" of Severodonetsk, declared Olexandre Striouk, mayor of the city, referring to "street fights".
A little earlier, the governor of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaïdaï also assured that "initial information indicates that they (the Russians) have managed to take control of most of the city. But our forces are now repelling them. ".
Moscow claims to have destroyed two Ukrainian command centers
The Russians "are blowing up the bridges so that we cannot send reinforcements to our guys, who are in Severodonetsk", added the governor.
For its part, Moscow claims to have destroyed two Ukrainian command centers and six ammunition depots in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
For the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the dynamic has changed and now Ukrainian forces are "successfully slowing (...) the Russian assaults on Severodonetsk through careful and effective local counterattacks". .
Fighting continues on other fronts as well.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Minister, "Russia continues to make efforts to occupy our entire state".
The Kremlin dreams, assured Oleksiï Reznikov, of "gathering the lands" which he considers "his", including "Poland, the Baltic countries, Slovakia and others".
Russia triples the area of conquered Ukrainian territory
Crimea, Donbass, southern Ukraine: in total, Russia has tripled since the start of the invasion, the area of Ukrainian territory under its control reaching 125,000 km², or 20% of the country, according to Mr. Zelensky.
On the southern front, in the Kherson region, Moscow "continues to bombard the occupied territories and the positions of the Ukrainian army", announced the Ukrainian presidency, which fears a humanitarian crisis in the areas in Russian hands.
The Russian army claims to have destroyed "a deployment point for foreign mercenaries" near Dachnoe, in the Odessa region and to have hit with missiles a training center for Ukrainian gunners near Stetskovka, in the Sumy region ( north), where "foreign instructors trained Ukrainian soldiers in the use of the M777 howitzer".
The port of Mykolaiv was also hit by a missile, as well as an agricultural enterprise in the large port of Odessa, where "warehouses were damaged" and two people died, according to kyiv.
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For his part, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs replied on Saturday to French President Emmanuel Macron who, the day before, repeated that it was not necessary "to humiliate Russia" to preserve diplomatic exit doors.
"We would all do better to focus on how to put Russia in its place. This will bring peace and save lives," retorted Dmytro Kouleba, saying that Mr. Macron's position can only "humiliate France ".
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At the same time, the USS Kearsarge was taking up residence in Stockholm.
It is the largest American warship ever to anchor in the port of the Swedish capital.
“It is important for us, the United States, as well as for the other NATO countries, to show our solidarity with Finland and Sweden,” said General Mark Milley, the American Chief of Staff. , ahead of NATO's annual naval maneuvers in the Baltic Sea.
Sunday evening, on the lawn of Cardiff, the Ukrainians will try to win another victory, the one that would qualify the national team for the World Cup.
"We all understood that the game against Wales will not be about fitness or tactics, but about survival. Everyone will fight for it and give their all," explained defender Oleksandre Zinchenko, as if to better unite with the Ukrainian soldiers, failing to be able to fight alongside them.