Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a few days before the debate among the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) over Kiev’s candidacy for the bloc, he expected “Russia to step up its attacks this week”.
“This Monday really starts a historic week,” Zelensky said of the EU’s long-awaited response to the granting of candidate status to Ukraine. said.
After Ukraine got the green light from the European Commission on Friday, EU countries will meet on Thursday and Friday to decide whether Kiev can qualify as a candidate, a decision that must be taken unanimously.
“Obviously we expect Russia to intensify its attacks this week,” the Ukrainian president warned, before saying the country’s troops were prepared and “ready” for this scenario.
Zelensky said the Russians “regrouped their forces in Kharkiv and the Zaporizhzhia region” and continued to bombard fuel infrastructure.
He acknowledged “significant losses” while saying the army would respond to the attacks.
“The Russians tried to advance in the Toshkivka region and partially succeeded,” said Sergei Gaiday, governor of Lugansk, the eastern region of the country, which has been the target of intense shelling in recent weeks, but stressed that the Ukrainian artillery is working. and the advance set failed.
Toshkiva is south of the twin town of Severodonetsk Lysychansk, which focused the attack on the Donbass mining basin (eastern Ukraine).
In Lysychansk, there are signs of preparations for street fighting: soldiers laid barbed wire and police moved the wreckage of burned vehicles to try to stop the Russians.
Gaiday on Sunday denied Russia’s capture of Severodonetsk, but acknowledged that Moscow troops “control the majority” of the city.
The Russian Ministry of Defense demanded control of Metiolkine, located on the outskirts of Severodonetsk.
Severodonetsk is a strategic location for the war in the Donbass, a region partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
On the southern front, the Ukrainian army claims that the Russian forces “cannot advance on land” and continue the bombardment.
Russia’s defense ministry said it used cruise missiles to attack a factory in Mykolaiv and destroyed “ten 155mm howitzers and up to 20 armored vehicles supplied by the West to the Kyiv regime in the past ten days”.
Mykolaiv is a port and industrial city where half a million people lived before the war. Since the location is on the route of Odessa, the main port of Ukraine, it is the target of Russian attacks.
“war crime”
This Monday, the head of European Union (EU) diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said Russia had committed a “true war crime” by blocking grain and grain exports from Ukraine.
Russia against the EU is using its hydrocarbons as weapons and cut off gas flow to many countries last week.
At the same time, Russia’s oil imports to China increased by 55% in May compared to the same period last year.
Countries like Germany rely on less ecological solutions, including coal plants, to reduce dependency on Russia.
Despite the German coalition government’s promise to stop using coal by 2030, ecologist Robert Habeck, Minister of Economy, said: “It’s a pain, but reducing gas consumption is essential.”
Austria also announced on Sunday that a closed coal power plant will be reactivated in 2020. Before the war, the Vienna government aimed to stop using this energy source and produce 100% renewable electricity by the end of the decade.
source: Noticias
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