War in Ukraine: four explosions heard in kyiv, Russia seizes Severodonetsk

Europe1 .fr with AFP 6:43 a.m., June 26, 2022

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Four explosions were heard in kyiv early Sunday morning, a residential complex near the city center was hit causing a fire and the release of a large cloud of gray smoke, AFP journalists noted.

The explosions occurred around 06:30 (03:30 GMT), no information on possible victims was immediately available.

In addition, Russian forces achieved major military successes in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, fully capturing, after a fierce battle, the strategic city of Severodonetsk and entering the neighboring city of Lyssytchansk, at the start of the fifth month of conflict.

At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country would "in the coming months" deliver to Belarus, from where strikes were carried out against Ukrainian territory, missiles capable of carrying nuclear charges.

This is Iskander-M, said the Russian head of state at the start of a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Saint Petersburg (north-west of Russia).

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"Do not abandon Ukraine"

In statements that risk further straining relations between Moscow and the West, the two leaders also said they wanted to modernize Belarusian aviation to make it capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

kyiv had shortly before accused Russia of wanting to "draw" Minsk "into the war" after the firing, according to the Ukrainian army, of twenty missiles from Belarusian soil as well as planes, on an important Ukrainian military center in Desna ( north) Saturday at dawn.

This village in the border region of Cherniguiv had already been the target on May 17 of bombardments which left 87 dead according to the Ukrainians.

Attacks were carried out from Belarus at the very beginning of the invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24.

US President Joe Biden arrived in Europe on Saturday evening, where he intends to further consolidate, and over time, the ranks of Westerners against Moscow.

He must participate in a G7 summit in southern Germany on Sunday, where aid to Ukraine will be discussed, then, from Tuesday in Madrid, another from NATO.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday called on G7 leaders not to "give up on Ukraine", warning against "fatigue" in supporting kyiv and announcing additional economic aid of up to $525 million, for bring the total to 1.8 billion.

Five months

"Any sign of fatigue or weakening in Western support for Ukraine will work directly in President Putin's favour," Downing Street insisted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday evening that he intended to participate in the G7 summit, noting the entry into the conflict in the fifth month.

"It's such a step in the war -- morally difficult, emotionally difficult. (...) It's not just the destruction of our infrastructure, it's also the cynical pressure, calculated on the emotions of the population “, he lamented.

But "no Russian missile or bombardment will break the spirit of the Ukrainians".

He pleaded once again for increased Western assistance in armaments and anti-aircraft systems, deeming the sanctions "insufficient".

The Ukrainian Air Force on Saturday reported a "massive Russian attack (...) with more than 50 missiles of several types fired from the air, sea and ground" the previous night, stressing that the X-22s , Onyx and Iskander were "extremely difficult" to intercept by Ukrainian devices.

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In eastern Ukraine, the Russian army made major advances on Saturday.

Severodonetsk is "entirely occupied by the Russians", thus recognized at the end of the afternoon its mayor Oleksandre Striouk, the day after the announcement by the Ukrainian army of its withdrawal from this city of approximately 100,000 inhabitants before the war. to better defend the locality of Lysytchansk, located on the opposite bank of the Donets River.

The governor of the Lugansk region Sergei Gaïdaï confirmed the occupation of Severodonetsk on Saturday evening, stressing that the city was "destroyed at 90%. It will be very difficult to survive there".

According to him, the Russians have appointed a "commander" for this city from which it is only possible to escape "through occupied territories".

The separatists at the same time declared that they had "taken full control of the industrial zone of the Azot factory" in Severodonetsk and entered Lysychansk with the Russian military.

“Street fights are currently taking place there,” they added, without confirmation from an independent source being able to be obtained immediately.

Crucial progress on the ground for Russia, which wants to conquer the entire industrial basin of Donbass, already partially in the hands of pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

To live longer"

"Everyone is suffering. We are trying to survive," says Nina, 64, a retiree who pushes her bicycle in Seversk, near the front line.

"There's no (running) water, no gas, no electricity. We've been living under bombs for three months, it's the Stone Age."

"The city is absolutely dead and we would like to live a little longer," complains Marina, 63, a retired worker.

"They are just killing us, it's dangerous everywhere."

The Russian army says it killed "up to 80 Polish mercenaries" in a bombardment, also destroying twenty armored vehicles and eight Grad multiple rocket launchers in high-precision weapons fire at the Megatex zinc plant in Konstantinovka , in the eastern region of Donetsk.

This information was also not verifiable.

Moscow frequently claims to "eliminate foreign mercenaries" who have gone to fight in Ukraine.

In the south, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that "more than 300 Ukrainian servicemen and foreign mercenaries and 35 heavy weapons units" had been "liquidated in one day in the Mykolaiv region".

The operational command of the southern region indicated in the night from Saturday to Sunday that the Russians continued their "defensive actions", increasing the intensity of the strikes but "without aiming at new targets".

In Kharkiv (north-east), the second largest metropolis in Ukraine, which has resisted pressure from Russian troops since the start of the offensive, missiles are falling again daily on the city center.