Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — The Russian military continued to undermine Ukraine’s defenses Monday as fighting in the eastern regions entered a “decisive” phase, as the war’s consequences for food and fuel weighed on the world’s mind.
In the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, which in recent weeks has become the focal point of Moscow’s attempt to impose its will on its neighbor, battles have broken out in several villages, the local governor said.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the Kremlin had ordered the Russian military to invade the entire Luhansk region until next Sunday. Currently, Moscow’s forces occupy approximately 95% of the region.
Maliar said in televised remarks that “without exaggeration, decisive battles are taking place” in the region, where Ukrainian forces are desperately seeking to be surrounded.
“We have to perceive that the enemy has a merit either in terms of worker corps and weapons, so the scenario is incredibly difficult. And right now, those decisive battles are being positioned with maximum intensity,” Maliar added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his call for more Western weapons to repel the Russian assault.
“We want your support, we want weapons, weapons that will have more important functions than Russian weapons,” he told a forum in Milan organized through the geopolitical think tank ISPI. He spoke via video link.
Zelenskyy added: “It’s a matter of death. “
The villages where the fighting is fierce are around Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, two towns in the Luhansk region that have not yet been captured by the Russians, according to Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai.
Russian bombings and airstrikes on the commercial outskirts of Sievierodonetsk have intensified, he said.
Haidai told The Associated Press on Monday that the scenario in Sieferodonetsk was “very difficult,” as Ukrainian forces retained only one domain: the Azot chemical plant, where several Ukrainian fighters are sheltering, as well as about 500 civilians. .
The Russians continue to deploy more troops and aircraft in the region, he said.
“It’s hell there. Everything is engulfed by fire, the shelling doesn’t even prevent for an hour,” Haidai said in written comments.
Only a fraction of the other 100,000 people who lived in Sievierodonetsk before the war remain in the city, without electricity, communications, food or medicine.
Still, Haidai said, fierce Ukrainian resistance prevents Moscow from deploying its resources in other parts of the country.
The British Ministry of Defence has noted that the war does not come until the end of Russia, despite its staggering military means.
Russian ground troops are “exhausted,” the Defense Ministry said Monday in an intelligence report. He blamed the weakness of the air for Russia’s difficulty in advancing faster on the floor.
Drivers around the world are reconsidering their behavior and their non-public finances amid high gasoline and diesel costs, driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine and the global uptick in the COVID-19 pandemic. Energy costs are a key driving force of the inflation that is emerging around the world and making the burden of living more expensive.
Senior European Union diplomats met in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss Ukraine and food security.
EU foreign policy leader Josep Borrell has called on Russia to lift its blockades of Ukrainian ports to deliver the millions of tons of grain waiting to be exported.
“I hope, more than I hope, I’m sure, that the United Nations will finally reach an agreement,” Borrell said. “It’s inconceivable, you can’t believe that millions of tons of wheat remain trapped in Ukraine while in the rest of the world, other people are suffering (from) starvation. This is a genuine war crime. . . You cannot use other people’s starvation as a weapon of war.
Financial aid for young people displaced by the war in Ukraine would come from an unexpected place later on Monday, when Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov tried to auction his Nobel Peace Prize medal in New York.
Muratov awarded the gold medal in October 2021. He helped uncover the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and the publication’s editor-in-chief when it closed in March amid the Kremlin’s crackdown on news hounds and public dissent following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Muratov had announced in the past that he was donating the $500,000 cash prize that accompanied the prize to a charity. The proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in its efforts to help young people displaced by the war in Ukraine.
In Monday’s previews:
A Russian governor said the Ukrainian bombing of a Russian village near the Ukrainian border injured one person. A forced plant struck, leaving parts of the village without electricity, according to Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Bryansk region.
The Russian military said it hit an airfield in the Odessa region of southern Ukraine with a missile, destroying two Bayraktar drones and a drone station. Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said a high-precision Oniks missile hit an Artsyz airfield in the Odessa region. Earlier on Monday, the Ukrainian military said its air defense formula had deterred two air strikes in the Odessa region, destroying incoming missiles. Conflicting reports may not be immediately reconciled.
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