Rubble and destruction after a Russian attack in Kostyantynivka, in the Donetsk region, this Friday. Photo: AFP
Ukraine said on Saturday that a “massive bombardment” with Russian missiles has reached its territory and that it was launched by Belarus, an ally of the Kremlin which, despite providing logistical support to Moscow, is not officially involved in the conflict, which entered the its fifth month.
“A massive missile bombing hit the Chernigov region,” said the northern command of the Ukrainian troops.
“Twenty rockets targeted the city of Desna, launched from Belarusian territory (and also) from the air,” he added, noting that the attacks hit infrastructure but left no casualties.
Although not involved in the conflict with Ukraine, Belarus provided logistical support to Moscow’s troops, especially in the first weeks of the Russian offensive, which began on February 24.
“Today’s bombing is directly related to the Kremlin’s efforts to drag Belarus into the war in Ukraine as a co-belligerent,” the Directorate-General of Ukrainian Intelligence, under the Ministry of Defense, said on Telegram.
The attack took place ahead of this Saturday’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in St. Petersburg. Moscow did not comment on the alleged attack.
Ukrainian soldiers stand guard on a road in the Luhansk region. Photo: AFP
summit marathon
Ukraine’s Western allies, on the other hand, will meet starting Sunday at a summit of the G7, the world’s largest economy, in Germany.
And in the face of a conflict that risks prolonging over time, the members of NATO, of which Ukraine is not a part, will meet next week in Madrid.
During these meetings, Western countries will take stock of the effectiveness of the sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus and will study possible new aid to Ukraine.
kyiv insists he needs more weapons to counter the advance of Russian troops and “stabilize” the situation in Donbas, to the east, where intense fighting is underway.
This “will allow us to stabilize the situation in the most threatened region of Luhansk,” said Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzhnyi on Friday.
The situation is particularly tough in the industrial city of Severodonetsk, which was bombed by Moscow for weeks and where Ukrainian troops were ordered to withdraw on Friday.
The advance of the Russian forces in Ukraine. / AFP
“90% of the city is damaged, 80% of the houses will have to be demolished,” said the governor of the Lugansk region, where the city is located.
Moscow forces are also focusing their offensive on neighboring Lysychansk, which is almost surrounded. The situation is bleak for the inhabitants who has decided to stay.
Liliya Nesterenko explains it your house has no gas, water or electricity, so he cooks with his mother over a campfire. However, the 39-year-old is optimistic. “I believe in our Ukrainian army, they should be able to stand up to the Russians,” he says.
control of the east
Both Severodonetsk and Lysychansk are key to controlling eastern Ukraine, which has been controlled in part by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Experts point out that the withdrawal of Ukrainian soldiers from Severodonetsk does not necessarily mean fundamental change on the ground.
“The general vision – a slow war of entrenched positions – has just changed,” Ivan Klyszcz, a researcher at the Estonian University of Tartu, told AFP.
Firefighters search for victims in the rubble after a Russian artillery attack in Lysychansk, in the Lugansk region, Ukraine, days ago.
“The withdrawal was probably planned in advance and can be considered tactical,” he said, noting that Ukrainian resistance has allowed Kiev to consolidate its rear.
Ukrainian forces are consolidating “their forces in positions where they can defend themselves better,” a US Pentagon official said on condition of anonymity.
Mikolaiv, for example, about 20km southwest of Lysychansk, is already in the hands of the Russian army, according to Governor Gaidai. And now they’re trying to “conquer Hirske,” a nearby town, he added.
Further south, in Donetsk, the other region that together with Lugansk makes up Donbas, “no city” in the area is “safe”, its governor Pavlo Kyrylenko assured Thursday.
Russia said it had killed “up to 80” Polish fighters in a bombing raid in this area, particularly in Konstantinovka, the Russian defense ministry said Saturday.
In recent days, even in northern Ukraine, Russia has intensified its attacks on Kharkiv, where explosions were heard on Saturday.
And in recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have been trying to recapture lost cities in the south. In Kherson, for example, under Russian control, a high command installed from Moscow was killed in an attack with explosives planted in his car, according to a pro-Russian official.
fifth month of war
The Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth month without showing signs of an end in the short term. On Thursday, the leaders of the 27 member states of the European Union decided to grant Ukraine candidate status for membership, a symbolic moment celebrated by its president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
But for the Russian government, the decision is a Western ploy to contain Moscow geopolitically.
The decision “confirms that the seizure of the space of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, which groups together several former Soviet republics) is actively continuing, in order to contain Russia,” said the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajarova.
These Kremlin condemnations “only show Russia’s weakness”, Ukrainian diplomacy chief Dmytro Kuleba reacted on Twitter.
Source: AFP
CB
Source: Clarin
