The Russian military announced that they would open a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians from the Azot plant in the city of Severodonetsk. The Russian Defense Ministry said yesterday that in a move “driven by humanitarian principles, the Russian armed forces and formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic are ready to organize a humanitarian operation to evacuate civilians,” adding that civilians will be transferred to the separatist region of Luhansk.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing for the West to provide his country with “modern” weapons to stop the “horrific” rise in human casualties from Russia’s attack at a time when the strategic city of Severodonetsk was isolated from the rest of Ukraine yesterday after being destroyed the last bridge connecting it with other regions.
“Military history will surely remember the battle in Donbass as one of the fiercest in Europe,” Zelenskiy said in his daily speech Monday night.
“The human cost of this battle (in Severodonetsk) is very high for us. It’s just awful,” he added, highlighting the dire need for weapons at a time when Kyiv was reporting 100 to 300 soldier deaths a day.
The President of Ukraine stressed that “only modern artillery guarantees us an advantage”, expressing confidence in the ability of his army to “liberate the lands”, “including Mariupol and Crimea.”
“We just need enough weapons to protect it all. Our partners have it,” he said.
The call came at a time when Western countries are supplying Kyiv with munitions, spare parts and light weapons, and the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group, formed by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, is due to meet in Brussels.
Ukraine has exhausted its Russian and Soviet-made armaments and now depends solely on weapons supplied by its Western allies, especially artillery, American experts say.
Washington began to supply Ukraine first with heavy equipment such as howitzers, and then with advanced equipment such as HIMARS rocket launchers and precision-guided artillery pieces with longer ranges than the Russian military.
Control of Severodonetsk opens the way for Moscow to another major city in the Donbass, Kramatorsk, bringing its forces closer to achieving their goal of complete control of this mineral-rich region, which is predominantly Russian-speaking and part of which is under control. pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
On Monday, pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine confirmed four people were killed and 22 injured in a “heavy” shelling by Kyiv forces of the city of Donetsk, which they consider the capital of their region.
Fighting is also underway in southern Ukraine, with air clashes and Russian helicopter strikes on Ukrainian positions in Mykolaiv and Kherson, according to the latest statement from the command of Ukrainian forces in the south of the country, released on Monday night.
In Nikolaev, a major port at the mouth of the Dnieper, a Russian offensive on the outskirts of the city was halted and the Ukrainian army dug trenches against Russian troops, a group of journalists told AFP.
In a report released on Monday, Amnesty International accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine, condemning the deaths of hundreds of civilians in ongoing attacks on Kharkiv, many of which used banned cluster bombs.
The President of France inspects the forces of “Eagle” at the gates of Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday visited in Romania 500 French soldiers stationed at a NATO base following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ahead of a support visit to Moldova and a possible visit to Kyiv. This is Macron’s first trip to southeastern Europe, which was directly affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began in late February.
While Macron was discussing relations and the situation in Ukraine with Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Chiuka, the Eagle Mission, launched as part of NATO reinforcement, inspected its “deterrent and defensive position on Europe’s eastern flank.” France, a participant in this operation, is deploying 500 soldiers, including 350 ground troops from various units. They form an “advanced battalion” of 300 Belgian soldiers who will be replaced by the Dutch in the coming months.
Russia cuts gas supplies via Nord Stream
Russian giant Gazprom Group announced yesterday that it has reduced gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream gas pipeline by more than 40 percent per day due to the inability to obtain the necessary equipment from the German company Siemens. “Gas supplies via the Nord Stream gas pipeline can only be ensured with a volume of 100 million cubic meters of gas per day instead of the planned 167 million cubic meters per day,” the Russian group said in a message posted on Telegram.
