KYIV: Ukrainian forces are facing “massive” and relentless artillery attacks on a battlefield eastern city, Kyiv Be warned, because Russian troops gained land throughout the Donbass region.
Moscowsoldiers are pushing east Ukraine For weeks and moving forward slowly, despite fierce resistance from the Ukrainian military.
with the president Vladimir PutinThe army, which has strengthened its hold on the strategically important city of Severodonetsk in the Donbass, its twin city of Lisichansk, is now under heavy bombardment.
“The Russian army is shelling Lysychansk extensively,” Sergei Gede, governor of the Lugansk region, which includes both cities, wrote on Telegram.
“They’re just destroying everything in there… they destroyed buildings and unfortunately there are casualties.”
Russian forces are occupying villages in the area, and taking control of the two cities would give Moscow control of the whole of Lugansk, allowing them to advance into the Donbass.
After retreating from Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine after the February invasion, Moscow is seeking to seize a vast eastern region of the country.
In Lisichansk, a Russian attack had left a vacant lot in a police station, and damaged apartment blocks nearby, according to AFP reporters in the city.
According to officials, 20 police officers were injured in a direct collision at the station on Monday night.
“The walls of the partition collapsed and the doors blew off,” said a policeman, who gave his nickname as Petrovich, showing the damage to the building.
In his daily address on Tuesday, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky It also accused the Russian military of “brutal and cynical” shelling in the eastern Kharkiv region.
“The Russian army is deaf to any rationality. It simply destroys, just kills,” he said.
Its governor said fifteen people were killed in Russian shelling in Kharkiv on Tuesday.
Away from the battlefield, Moscow was locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with EU member Lithuania over the country’s restrictions on rail traffic at the Russian outpost of Kaliningrad.
The region is about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from Moscow, which borders Lithuania and Poland.
By withholding goods coming from Russia, Lithuania says it is only complying with EU-wide sanctions on Moscow.
But Moscow accused Brussels of an “edge” and summoned the EU ambassador to Russia.
The United States made clear its commitment to Lithuania as an ally in NATO, which considers an attack against one member an attack on all.
“We stand with our NATO allies and we stand with Lithuania,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington.
With US-Russia tensions rising, the State Department confirmed on Tuesday that a second American, 52-year-old Stephen Zabilski, was killed while fighting for Ukraine.
Two other Americans were captured in eastern Ukraine last week.
A White House spokesman, John Kirby, sounded the alarm over Russian statements that it would not enforce the Geneva Conventions on the Humane Treatment of Prisoners for Couples.
“It is appalling that a government official in Russia would even suggest the death penalty for two American citizens living in Ukraine,” Kirby told reporters.
Ukraine is seeking membership in the European Union after previously failing to join NATO.
Ministers were united on Tuesday to grant candidate status to Ukraine as well as Moldova ahead of a formal greenlight later this week, said Clement Beaune, France’s Europe minister, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
Zelensky, who has been hailed as a hero in Europe for resisting the invasion, said he was working on the phone to mobilize support for EU membership.
“I will do everything to get the European Union’s historic decision approved. This is important to us,” he said.
– ‘The Battle for Arms’ – Western countries are pouring billions of dollars into Ukraine, where Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted that the powerful German-made Panzerhaubitz 2000 howitzer artillery had reached his country’s army.
But Zelensky reiterated Ukraine’s call for faster deliveries of weapons.
“We fight every day to supply modern weapons for our country,” he said in his daily address. “The lives of thousands of people depend directly on the speed of our partners.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it attacked a Black Sea oil drilling platform near the Crimean peninsula because Russia was using it as a military installation.
Sergei Brachuk of the Regional Military Administration of Odessa told an online briefing that the rig had a Russian garrison and equipment for air defence, radar warfare and reconnaissance.
Ukraine, its Western supporters and the International Criminal Court have all vowed to take accountability over the war.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland visited Ukraine on Tuesday to discuss prosecuting individuals involved in war crimes.
“There’s no place to hide,” Garland said.
Moscowsoldiers are pushing east Ukraine For weeks and moving forward slowly, despite fierce resistance from the Ukrainian military.
with the president Vladimir PutinThe army, which has strengthened its hold on the strategically important city of Severodonetsk in the Donbass, its twin city of Lisichansk, is now under heavy bombardment.
“The Russian army is shelling Lysychansk extensively,” Sergei Gede, governor of the Lugansk region, which includes both cities, wrote on Telegram.
“They’re just destroying everything in there… they destroyed buildings and unfortunately there are casualties.”
Russian forces are occupying villages in the area, and taking control of the two cities would give Moscow control of the whole of Lugansk, allowing them to advance into the Donbass.
After retreating from Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine after the February invasion, Moscow is seeking to seize a vast eastern region of the country.
In Lisichansk, a Russian attack had left a vacant lot in a police station, and damaged apartment blocks nearby, according to AFP reporters in the city.
According to officials, 20 police officers were injured in a direct collision at the station on Monday night.
“The walls of the partition collapsed and the doors blew off,” said a policeman, who gave his nickname as Petrovich, showing the damage to the building.
In his daily address on Tuesday, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky It also accused the Russian military of “brutal and cynical” shelling in the eastern Kharkiv region.
“The Russian army is deaf to any rationality. It simply destroys, just kills,” he said.
Its governor said fifteen people were killed in Russian shelling in Kharkiv on Tuesday.
Away from the battlefield, Moscow was locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with EU member Lithuania over the country’s restrictions on rail traffic at the Russian outpost of Kaliningrad.
The region is about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from Moscow, which borders Lithuania and Poland.
By withholding goods coming from Russia, Lithuania says it is only complying with EU-wide sanctions on Moscow.
But Moscow accused Brussels of an “edge” and summoned the EU ambassador to Russia.
The United States made clear its commitment to Lithuania as an ally in NATO, which considers an attack against one member an attack on all.
“We stand with our NATO allies and we stand with Lithuania,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington.
With US-Russia tensions rising, the State Department confirmed on Tuesday that a second American, 52-year-old Stephen Zabilski, was killed while fighting for Ukraine.
Two other Americans were captured in eastern Ukraine last week.
A White House spokesman, John Kirby, sounded the alarm over Russian statements that it would not enforce the Geneva Conventions on the Humane Treatment of Prisoners for Couples.
“It is appalling that a government official in Russia would even suggest the death penalty for two American citizens living in Ukraine,” Kirby told reporters.
Ukraine is seeking membership in the European Union after previously failing to join NATO.
Ministers were united on Tuesday to grant candidate status to Ukraine as well as Moldova ahead of a formal greenlight later this week, said Clement Beaune, France’s Europe minister, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
Zelensky, who has been hailed as a hero in Europe for resisting the invasion, said he was working on the phone to mobilize support for EU membership.
“I will do everything to get the European Union’s historic decision approved. This is important to us,” he said.
– ‘The Battle for Arms’ – Western countries are pouring billions of dollars into Ukraine, where Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted that the powerful German-made Panzerhaubitz 2000 howitzer artillery had reached his country’s army.
But Zelensky reiterated Ukraine’s call for faster deliveries of weapons.
“We fight every day to supply modern weapons for our country,” he said in his daily address. “The lives of thousands of people depend directly on the speed of our partners.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it attacked a Black Sea oil drilling platform near the Crimean peninsula because Russia was using it as a military installation.
Sergei Brachuk of the Regional Military Administration of Odessa told an online briefing that the rig had a Russian garrison and equipment for air defence, radar warfare and reconnaissance.
Ukraine, its Western supporters and the International Criminal Court have all vowed to take accountability over the war.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland visited Ukraine on Tuesday to discuss prosecuting individuals involved in war crimes.
“There’s no place to hide,” Garland said.