Russia narrows its siege in eastern Ukraine, where it causes “catastrophic destruction”

The Russian offensive continues to intensify in eastern Ukraine, according to the kyiv authorities, who on Tuesday denounced “catastrophic destruction” in Lysychansk, a neighboring town of Severodonetsk, where about 570 people are taking refuge in the Azot chemical plant.

The governor of the Luhansk region (east), Sergei Gaidai, reported “fighting in the Severodonetsk industrial zone and catastrophic destruction in Lysychansk”. “The last 24 hours were tough” for the Ukrainian forces, he added.

The official assured that the attacks against the three bridges that connect the two towns, separated by the Donets River, continue, despite the fact that they have already been destroyed, which has left Severodonetsk isolated from the rest of the territories controlled by Ukraine.

Gaidai also said that 568 people, 38 of them children, were sheltering inside the Azot factory.

“Keep the pressure on”

This plant is emblematic of this industrial city, which had 100,000 inhabitants before the war. A third of the town is still controlled by kyiv. The town is considered a key stage for the comprehensive conquest of Donbas, a region partially in the hands of pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

The town of Toshkivka, a few kilometers from Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, is fully under Russian control, reported the head of the Severodonetsk district, Roman Vlasenko. “follow the pressure” on the front line where “the battle for Donbas is in full swing“, said.

For several weeks, the region has been under violent artillery fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the Ukrainian army to “to resist”, hinting that the outcome of the war depended on their perseverance and ability to stop the Russian advance.

Other Donbas cities still under kyiv’s control are preparing to fight Russian troops, such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, east of Severodonestk.

The situation “it is complex because the front has come closer in recent weeks, up to 15-20 kilometers”, explained Vadim Liakh, mayor of Sloviansk. You have to wait for “the new weapons that our army needs will arrive soon”he added.

“serious” consequences for Lithuania

At the diplomatic level, the dispute between Russia and the European Union (EU) worsened this Tuesday after Moscow threatened to “serious” consequences for Lithuania, a member of the bloc and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), for imposing restrictions on the rail transit of goods to Kaliningrad due to Western sanctions against Moscow.

This strategic and militarized enclave, home to the Russian fleet in the Baltic Sea, borders Lithuania and Poland, two countries that have firmly supported Ukraine since the start of the conflict.

Russia will react to these “hostile acts” and the measures “will have serious negative consequences for the population of Lithuania”, said Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council, during a visit to Kaliningrad.

Russian diplomacy accused the EU of encouraging a “climbing” and demanded the immediate restoration of transit to the enclave, separated from Russian territory.

Russification

In kyiv province, where several towns came under Russian control in March, the local Ukrainian police chief said the bodies of 1,333 civilians, killed by Russian forces, had been found so far, according to him. Of those, 213 remained unidentified.

Meanwhile, in the south of Ukraine, since the region passed into Russian hands, Moscow has carried out a policy of Russification, which includes the introduction of the ruble, the Russian currency, and the issuance of Russian passports.

This Tuesday, the Russian army announced that the inhabitants of Kherson, under Russian control, will be able to access “free” Russian television channels.

The channels include those of the public broadcasting group VGTRK, which actively broadcasts the Kremlin line.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, one of the new pro-Russian officials of the Kherson region, Kirill Stremusov, said that the territory could join Russia “before the end of the year” after holding a referendum.

On the other hand, in a highly symbolic gesture, the chief editor of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Dmitri Muratov, auctioned on Monday the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize that he won in 2021 and with the money obtained he will help children. displaced by the war in Ukraine.

It’s necessary that “people understand that there is a conflict and that we have to help the people who suffer the most”, declared the journalist critical of the Kremlin.

Acquired by an anonymous buyer for a whopping US$103.5 million, the sum far exceeds the US$4.76 million that another Nobel medal reached in 2014.