+ A
A -
dpa
Kiev
The Ukrainian General Staff reported a high number of Russian attacks in the east and south of country on Saturday, following the fall of the port city of Mariupol to Russian attacks.
Moscow’s troops continue to target eastern Ukraine, where 11 attacks were repelled, the situation report said.
A regional governor also said Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region was experiencing heavy fighting, raising fears of further Russian advances following the capture of Mariupol and the Azovstal steelworks.
The eastern Ukrainian town of Sievierodonetsk has been under fire for days, with several dead and injured, according to the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday.
“The Russians are wiping out Sievierodonetsk like Mariupol,” he said on Telegram, referring to aerial bombardments in the region.
However, he dismissed claims by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu that Moscow was on the verge of completely taking the Luhansk region, calling these “nonsense.”
Russian armed forces are trying to gain complete control over the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk and secure a land corridor to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Seizing Mariupol was an important advance in Russia’s strategy.
Late on Friday, Moscow said it had taken control of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, where the city’s last 2,000 fighters had been holed up for months in underground bunkers at the sprawling industrial site.
A total of 2,439 Ukrainian soldiers have been taken into Russian captivity since May 16, Moscow said.
The Russian leadership may now be considering exchanging fighters captured in Azovstal, a lawmaker said late on Saturday.
Leading Russian foreign policy expert Leonid Sluzki said there was discussion of possibly swapping Ukrainian fighters captured in Mariupol for pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, the Interfax news agency reported.
His suggestion echoes one made some weeks ago by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky concerning Medvedchuk, who was arrested in mid-April, accused of treason and embezzlement. He is considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Ukraine.
Now, Russian troops are clearing mines from the area around the port to make it functional again, according to the Ukrainian military.
But despite Mariupol’s fall, Zelensky said his army had inflicted serious damage on Russia’s armed forces.
Ukraine has “broken the backbone” of the Russian army, Zelensky said in a television interview. “They will not be able to get back on their feet for the next few years.” Kiev will take it all back, he said, adding that Ukraine would see a return to the front lines before February 24, when Russia invaded, as a victory.
In terms of peace, the first goal is for fighting to stop in some regions, according to Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio who said Rome had developed a plan to end the conflict.
“What we need now is a diplomatic counter-offensive,” Di Maio told the La Stampa newspaper.
The plan for a peace agreement was developed by diplomats and the Italian government and presented to negotiators of the G7 group of industrialized nations, Di Maio said, adding he had spoken with UN Secretary General Ant?nio Guterres.
Meanwhile EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders vowed that war crimes in Ukraine would be prosecuted and atrocities committed during the invasion would not go unpunished.
Reynders told La Stampa, an Italian newspaper, that 11 EU member states were investigating war crimes in Ukraine with more than 600 suspects identified so far.
Investigations are proceeding in Ukraine but also in various other European countries with testimony from people who fled the violence and the fighting, Reynders said.
Amid these efforts, US President Joe Biden signed into law a billion-dollar aid package for Ukraine, the White House announced, after Congress passed the package of almost $40 billion to “respond to the situation in, and for assistance to, Ukraine.”
Kiev
The Ukrainian General Staff reported a high number of Russian attacks in the east and south of country on Saturday, following the fall of the port city of Mariupol to Russian attacks.
Moscow’s troops continue to target eastern Ukraine, where 11 attacks were repelled, the situation report said.
A regional governor also said Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region was experiencing heavy fighting, raising fears of further Russian advances following the capture of Mariupol and the Azovstal steelworks.
The eastern Ukrainian town of Sievierodonetsk has been under fire for days, with several dead and injured, according to the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday.
“The Russians are wiping out Sievierodonetsk like Mariupol,” he said on Telegram, referring to aerial bombardments in the region.
However, he dismissed claims by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu that Moscow was on the verge of completely taking the Luhansk region, calling these “nonsense.”
Russian armed forces are trying to gain complete control over the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk and secure a land corridor to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Seizing Mariupol was an important advance in Russia’s strategy.
Late on Friday, Moscow said it had taken control of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, where the city’s last 2,000 fighters had been holed up for months in underground bunkers at the sprawling industrial site.
A total of 2,439 Ukrainian soldiers have been taken into Russian captivity since May 16, Moscow said.
The Russian leadership may now be considering exchanging fighters captured in Azovstal, a lawmaker said late on Saturday.
Leading Russian foreign policy expert Leonid Sluzki said there was discussion of possibly swapping Ukrainian fighters captured in Mariupol for pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, the Interfax news agency reported.
His suggestion echoes one made some weeks ago by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky concerning Medvedchuk, who was arrested in mid-April, accused of treason and embezzlement. He is considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Ukraine.
Now, Russian troops are clearing mines from the area around the port to make it functional again, according to the Ukrainian military.
But despite Mariupol’s fall, Zelensky said his army had inflicted serious damage on Russia’s armed forces.
Ukraine has “broken the backbone” of the Russian army, Zelensky said in a television interview. “They will not be able to get back on their feet for the next few years.” Kiev will take it all back, he said, adding that Ukraine would see a return to the front lines before February 24, when Russia invaded, as a victory.
In terms of peace, the first goal is for fighting to stop in some regions, according to Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio who said Rome had developed a plan to end the conflict.
“What we need now is a diplomatic counter-offensive,” Di Maio told the La Stampa newspaper.
The plan for a peace agreement was developed by diplomats and the Italian government and presented to negotiators of the G7 group of industrialized nations, Di Maio said, adding he had spoken with UN Secretary General Ant?nio Guterres.
Meanwhile EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders vowed that war crimes in Ukraine would be prosecuted and atrocities committed during the invasion would not go unpunished.
Reynders told La Stampa, an Italian newspaper, that 11 EU member states were investigating war crimes in Ukraine with more than 600 suspects identified so far.
Investigations are proceeding in Ukraine but also in various other European countries with testimony from people who fled the violence and the fighting, Reynders said.
Amid these efforts, US President Joe Biden signed into law a billion-dollar aid package for Ukraine, the White House announced, after Congress passed the package of almost $40 billion to “respond to the situation in, and for assistance to, Ukraine.”
