প্রকাশ: 25/05/2022
Russian forces
launched offensives on towns in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, with constant
mortar bombardment destroying several houses and killing civilians, Ukrainian
officials said, as Russia focuses its attack on the industrial Donbas region.
After failing to seize Kyiv or Ukraine's second city
Kharkiv, Russia is trying to take the rest of the separatist-claimed Donbas'
two provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, and trap Ukrainian forces in a pocket on
the main eastern front.
In the easternmost part of the Ukrainian-held Donbas pocket,
the city of Sievierodonetsk on the east bank of the Siverskiy Donets River and
its twin Lysychansk, on the west bank, have become a pivotal battlefield.
Russian forces were advancing from three directions to encircle them.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said the Russians
launched an offensive on Sievierodonetsk early on Wednesday and the town was
under constant fire from mortars.
Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said six civilians
were killed and at least eight wounded, most near bomb shelters, in
Sievierodonetsk.
"At the moment, with the support of artillery, the
Russian occupiers are attacking Sievierodonetsk," Gaidai said.
Ukraine's military said it had repelled nine Russian attacks
on Tuesday in the Donbas where Moscow's troops had killed at least 14
civilians, using aircraft, rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, mortars and
missiles.
Reuters could not immediately verify information about the
fighting.
In the town of Sloviansk west of Donbas, many residents took
advantage of what Ukraine said was a break in the Russian assault to leave.
"My house was bombed, I have nothing," said Vera Safronova, seated in
a train carriage among the evacuees.
Food blockage
Along with the eastern Donbas region, Moscow is also
targeting southern Ukraine and has blockaded ships that would normally export
Ukrainian grain and sunflower oil through the Black Sea, pushing up prices
globally and threatening lives.
"It cannot be in Russia's interest that because of
Russia, people are dying of hunger abroad," European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen told Reuters on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, calling for a dialogue.
Russia, which has blamed Ukraine and the West for the food
crisis, said it was ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels
carrying food to leave Ukraine but said Western sanctions would need to be
lifted in return.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko was quoted by
Interfax news agency as saying solving the food problem required a
"comprehensive approach". Russia was in touch with the United
Nations, and "does not rule out the possibility of global talks to unblock
Ukraine's ports," he said.
Separately, Russia's defence ministry said the port of
Mariupol, the Ukrainian city taken by Russia last week after devastating
bombardment and a three-month siege, was operating normally.
Rudenko said it was premature to establish a Russian
military base in Ukraine's Kherson region, adjacent to Crimea, which Moscow
seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Three months into the invasion, Russia still has only limited
gains to show for its worst military losses in decades, while much of Ukraine
has suffered devastation as Moscow stepped up artillery strikes to compensate
for its slow progress.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia was deliberately
advancing slowly in what it calls its "special operation" to avoid
civilian casualties, comments Zelenskiy dismissed as "absolutely
unreal".
Economic squeeze
Western nations have imposed severe sanctions on Russia and,
in a decision that could push Moscow closer to the brink of default, the Biden
administration said it would not extend a waiver set to expire on Wednesday
that enabled Russia to pay US bondholders.
Unlike in most default situations, Moscow is not short of
money. Russia's debt repayment dues pale in comparison to its oil and gas
revenues, which stood at $28 billion in April alone thanks to high energy
prices.
Russian lawmakers gave the first stamp of approval to a bill
that would allow Russian entities to take over foreign companies that have left
the country in opposition to Moscow's actions in Ukraine, a government online
portal showed.
British retailer Marks & Spencer MKS.L on Wednesday
became the latest company to announce it would pull out of Russia completely,
taking a charge of 31 million pounds ($39 million).
Zelenskiy told the Davos forum the conflict could only be
ended with direct talks between him and Putin, and said Russia should withdraw to
lines in place before its 24 Feb. invasion.
"That might be a first step towards talks," he
said.
The prime minister of Estonia, another former Soviet
republic which fears Russian aggression, said Ukraine should not be forced into
compromises.
"It is much more dangerous giving in to Putin, than
provoking him. All these seemingly small concessions to the aggressor lead to
big wars. We have done this mistake already three times: Georgia, Crimea and
Donbas."
- Reuters
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