The Ukrainian industrial region of Donbas, where the current Russian offensives are concentrated, has been destroyed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Since withdrawing from the Ukrainian capital, Russia has used massive artillery and tanks to try to conquer additional territory in the Donbas. It consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Moscow claims on behalf of pro-Russian separatists.
“The occupiers are trying to put even more pressure. There is hell and it is no exaggeration,” Zelensky said in a daily statement to Ukrainians and the world.
He said in it that strikes around Odesa and in cities in central Ukraine were daily, and Donbas was destroyed. The president mentions the “brutal and senseless bombing of Severodonetsk, which killed 12 people and injured dozens,” as well as the “terrible blow to the Desna” in the Chernihiv region.
“All this does not and cannot have a military explanation for Russia. It is a deliberate and criminal attempt to kill as many Ukrainians as possible. Like many houses, social facilities and businesses as possible are being destroyed,” Zelensky said in a statement.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian army also announced an intensification of the offensive of the Russian units in Donetsk. Five people were killed in the eastern region on Thursday, according to Governor Pavlo Kirilenko. The enemy is destroying the entire civilian infrastructure, even in places that are relatively far from the front line, Kirilenko said on local television. Authorities announced the deaths of 13 civilians in a Russian shelling in Luhansk on Friday morning. Twelve people were killed in the city of Severodonetsk, where the Russian attack was unsuccessful.
British intelligence, in its daily summary of the war, predicts that Russia will step up its offensive once it has established final control of Mariupol.
The most important of the 85th day of the war in Ukraine
The Moscow car plant, which the French carmaker Renault sold to Kamaz, will produce Chinese cars, not Moskvich, Russian media reported.
The European Union may impose import duties, along with a timetable for refusing to import Russian oil, to unlock a blockade imposed by Hungary and several other Eastern European countries on the adoption of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world will face famine and a humanitarian catastrophe in poorer countries if supplies of Ukrainian grain are not restored. The United States and the World Bank have announced emergency aid to provide grain from alternative suppliers to many African countries that rely on Ukrainian exports. Russia has said it would clear Ukrainian Black Sea ports if the West renounced sanctions imposed on it over the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become the hero of a comic book story, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Red Cross.
The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine is funding a website where Ukrainians can share stories of Russia’s brutal first-person attack on their country and the scene of the horrific events.
Five Portuguese diplomats were added to the 85 French, Spanish and Italian deportees expelled from Russia in retaliation against the April expulsion of 300 Russian missions in Europe.
The US Senate has approved $ 40 billion in the military and economic aid to Ukraine. Senators passed the aid bill by a large majority of 86 to 11, three weeks after President Joe Biden demanded a smaller $ 33 billion and after last week’s adoption was blocked by a single vote. an opponent of the Republican Party.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has spoken out against the application of a shortened procedure for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. Addressing the Bundestag ahead of a forthcoming meeting of European leaders, he explained that there could be no such “shortcut” to membership because such an exception would be unfair to the Western Balkan countries, and they would also want membership.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he wants the European Union to swiftly announce its position on Moldova’s EU bid. “I want to be able to give a clear answer in the coming weeks to Moldova, which deserves this, given the geopolitical situation, the security situation, and the humanitarian situation,” Macron said.
France has also deployed a new-generation air defense system in Romania, where it acts as a framework country for NATO forces, amid threats posed by the conflict in Ukraine.
NATO has shown no interest in deploying nuclear weapons or permanent bases in Finland, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told an Italian newspaper in an interview published during a visit to Rome.
