In eastern Ukraine, fighting continues, among other things, for the city of Severodonetsk.

The Russian military fired on the civilian infrastructure in the city and in neighboring Lysychansk and three other places, the Ukrainian general staff said.

Ukrainian units would have withstood Russian attacks from multiple directions.

The information could not be independently verified.

Severodonetsk is the last major city in the Luhansk region not yet fully under the control of Russian troops or pro-Russian separatists.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of ongoing street fighting.

According to Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk, Ukrainian troops control a third of Severodonetsk.

The city has been without electricity and water supply for around two months, he emphasized.

Difficult situation for Ukrainian troops

In the past few days, Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian politicians have appealed to Western allies to send more heavy weapons and missiles as soon as possible.

Because the conflict in eastern Ukraine is developing into an artillery duel in which the Russian army has an advantage thanks to larger stocks of weapons and ammunition.

According to Ukrainian and Western estimates, the Russian troops continue to record high losses.

In his daily video speech on Saturday, Selenskyj spoke of around 32,000 Russian soldiers who have been killed so far.

The day before, one of his advisers had put the Ukrainian army's casualties at around 10,000 since the Russian invasion on February 24.

After other top European politicians, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is about to travel to Kyiv for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a media report.

The SPD politician wants to visit Ukraine before the G7 summit at the end of June, the "Bild am Sonntag" reported.

Meanwhile, fighting continues in the east of the country, in which the Russian army wants to use its superiority in artillery and ammunition to gain land.

Scholz wants to travel to Kyiv together with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, reported "Bild am Sonntag", citing French and Ukrainian government circles.

A spokesman for the federal government did not want to comment on the report on Saturday evening.

From the Élysée Palace in Paris it said: "No, we do not confirm this information."

Scholz recently said he would only travel to Kyiv if there were specific things to discuss.

There had been some tension between Berlin and Kyiv in recent months.

In addition to the previous Russia policy of today's Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Ukrainian side criticized that it took too long for promised arms deliveries to actually arrive.

At the same time, Russia is trying to quickly tie occupied territories to itself.

In the occupied southern Ukrainian region of Cherson, pensions will soon be paid in Russian rubles, as the Russian head of administration Vladimir Saldo announced on Saturday in the news service Telegram.

This also applies to bills from energy and water suppliers - which would be free until the changeover.

Russian passports were handed over to the first 23 residents of the region on Saturday.

Around 7,000 others had applied for a Russian passport, it said.

Zelenskyy said in his speech that Russian passports are something like "a ticket to escape" there, as the Ukrainian army is making progress in the Kherson region.

Zelenskyy: Candidate status for Ukraine will also make the EU stronger

Selenskyj once again campaigned for his country to join the EU.

He was convinced that the European Union could also be strengthened with the decision on candidate status for Ukraine.

During a visit to Kyiv on Saturday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the evaluation of Ukraine's application for membership would be completed by the end of next week.

Your authority should make a recommendation with a view to a possible candidate status for the country.

Ukraine hopes to get it at the summit of EU leaders on June 23-24.

The war in eastern Ukraine, especially around Severodonetsk, will continue to be the focus.

There have recently been rather small changes on the long front line.

The Ukrainian army is trying to stop the advance of the Russian troops and push them back in several places.