প্রকাশ: 16/06/2022
Ukraine said it
urgently needed more weapons to fend off Russian advances in the south and the
east, an appeal aimed at the West as the leaders of Germany, France and Italy
are expected to visit Kyiv on Thursday.
Moscow has focused most of its firepower on the eastern city
of Sievierodonetsk while also trying to consolidate control over southern
territory encompassing the strategic city of Kherson, north of the Black Sea.
Ukrainian soldiers are fighting to retake ground in wheat
fields and empty villages along a deserted motorway between the city of
Mykolaiv and Russian-occupied Kherson.
Major-General Dmytro Marchenko, who leads Ukraine's forces
in Mykolaiv, said his troops could achieve victory over Russia if they are
given the right weapons.
"It is clear that this will not end soon. But then
again, if we are given all the weapons that we need, the counter-offensive
could well be over by the end of the summer," Marchenko told US-backed
broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Kherson fell to Russian forces in March, soon after Moscow
invaded on 24 Feb in what it describes as a "special military
operation" to disarm and "denazify" Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies
call this a baseless pretext for a war that his killed thousands and uprooted
millions.
SIEVIERDONETSK
After being pushed back from the outskirts of Kyiv in May,
Russia's troops have focused their efforts on capturing the entirety of the
Donbas, an industrial region where fighting has focused in recent weeks on
Sievierodonetsk, now largely in ruins.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears intent on asserting
complete control over the Donbas, parts of which are held by Moscow-backed
separatists in Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.
Ukrainian troops holed up alongside civilians in a
Sievierodonetsk chemical plant ignored a Russian ultimatum to lay down their
arms on Wednesday. The city's mayor, Oleksandr Stryuk, says Ukrainian troops
were still defending the city, even though all of its river bridges have been
destroyed.
Ukraine says more than 500 civilians, including 40 children,
remain alongside soldiers inside the Azot chemical factory, sheltering from
weeks of Russian bombardment. Separatists in the area say up to 1,200 civilians
may be inside.
Moscow said it had opened a humanitarian corridor from Azot
on Wednesday to allow civilians to escape to Russian-controlled territory. It
accused Ukraine's forces of disrupting that plan and using civilians as human
shields, which Kyiv denies.
"There are no obstacles for civilians to leave...
except for the decision in principle by the Kyiv authorities themselves,"
Russia's defence ministry said in a statement. Reuters was unable to verify
that claim.
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said
Ukraine's army was defending Sievierodonetsk and trying to stop Russian forces
from taking its twin city Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi
Donets river.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield
accounts.
ARMS PACKAGES
Leaders including US President Joe Biden have announced new
arms packages for Ukraine in recent days, following appeals by Kyiv for help on
the eastern and southern fronts.
Biden pledged $1 billion worth of new aid on Wednesday,
including anti-ship rocket systems, artillery rockets and rounds for howitzers.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was "extremely
focused on stepping up support" for Ukraine.
While Ukraine has welcomed the new pledges, it says
deliveries are not coming fast enough.
Recent deliveries of M777 Howitzers from the United States
have been too few and that Ukraine remains numerically outgunned, officials
said.
"I know we have it. I've seen how it works. But there's
not a lot of it working yet," an engineer manning a Soviet-designed
artillery piece hidden under a bridge northwest of Kherson said of the new
Western equipment.
Weapons provisions are likely to dominate discussions during
Friday's visit to Kyiv by leaders of the European Union's three biggest
countries.
The visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President
Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has taken weeks to
organise with the three men looking to overcome criticism within Ukraine over
their response to the war. The expected trip has not been announced for
security reasons.
Speaking in Romania on Wednesday, Macron said it was time
for Europe to reassure Ukraine over its EU ambitions.
"We are at a point when we need to send clear political
signals, us Europeans, towards Ukraine and its people when it is resisting
heroically," he said, without giving details.
On Friday, the European Commission is due to make a
recommendation on Ukraine's status as an EU candidate, something the biggest
European nations have been lukewarm about.
- Reuters
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