The last:
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Zelensky calls for a new round of “even stronger” EU sanctions against Russia.
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Ukrainians in the occupied southern regions issued Russian passports.
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Nearly 800 children have been killed or wounded in the war, according to Ukraine.
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A civilian was killed in an explosion on Odessa beach amid growing concern about mines.
Ukraine maintains control of the Azot chemical plant in the eastern city of Severodonetsk, where hundreds of civilians are taking refuge amid heavy fighting, the region’s governor said on Saturday, after a Russian-backed separatist claimed that between 300 and 400 Ukrainian fighters were also trapped there.
Weeks of fighting for Severodonetsk, a small town in the eastern Luhansk region of Ukraine, has pulverized sections of the city and has been one of the bloodiest since Moscow began its invasion on February 24. Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk form the Donbas, a region that has become the focus of Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine.
“Information about the Azot plant blockade is a lie,” Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Telegram’s messaging app. “Our forces are maintaining an industrial zone in Severodonetsk and are destroying the Russian army in the city.”
Ukraine says about 800 people were hiding in various anti-aircraft shelters under the Azot plant, including about 200 employees and 600 residents of Severodonetsk.
Smoke rises from the Severodonetsk Nitrogen plant in this still image obtained from a brochure video released on Thursday. (Luhansk Region Police / Reuters)
Rodion Miroshnik, a Russian-backed self-proclaimed representative of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Lugansk, said on Saturday afternoon that some civilians had begun marching and that Ukrainian forces could hold “hostages” several hundred civilians.
Earlier, he said that between 300 and 400 Ukrainian fighters were blocked on the ground of the plant along with civilians.
Gaidai said earlier that Russian forces controlled most of the city, although Ukraine controlled the Nitrogen plant.
In a brief video address on Saturday afternoon, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that while “street fights continue fierce in Severodonetsk,” the Ukrainian army was gradually liberating the territory further west in the Kherson region and had also had some success in Zaporizhzhia.
“We will definitely prevail in this war that Russia has started,” he said at a conference in Singapore via a video link earlier in the day. “It is on the battlefields of Ukraine that the future rules of this world are decided.”
Reuters was unable to independently verify battlefield reports.
The battle for Severodonetsk is reminiscent of weeks of bombing in the southern port city of Mariupol, which was reduced to rubble before Russian forces took control of it last month.
Moscow has resorted to expanding control in the eastern Donbas region, where pro-Russian separatists have already had a strip of territory since 2014, after being forced to reduce their broader initial campaign goals.
He calls his actions a “special military operation” to disarm and “de-destabilize” Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked war of aggression to capture territory.
Zelensky calls for more EU sanctions on Russia
During a visit to Kyiv by the EU’s top official, Zelensky called for a new round of “even stronger” EU sanctions against Russia.
Zelensky called for new sanctions to be targeted at more Russian officials, including judges, and to hamper the activities of all Russian banks, including the bank of gas giant Gazprom, as well as all Russian companies that help Moscow. either way “.
He spoke during a brief press briefing with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the heavily guarded presidential office in the Ukrainian capital. Von der Leyen was on his second visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the right, is seen on Saturday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv. (Natacha Pisarenko / The Associated Press)
The couple talked about Ukraine’s aspirations to become a member of the EU. Zelensky, speaking through a translator, said that Ukraine will “do everything” to integrate into the bloc.
“Russia wants to divide Europe, it wants to weaken Europe,” he said.
Von der Leyen said the EU’s executive arm was “working day and night” on an assessment of Ukraine’s eligibility as an EU candidate. The goal is to have the review ready to share with the 27 existing members of the blog by the end of next week.
Zelensky and some EU supporters want Ukraine to join the EU quickly. Von der Leyen described the accession process as “a path based on merit” and called on Ukraine to strengthen its rule of law, fight corruption and modernize its institutions.
He praised Ukraine’s “strength and resilience” in the face of Russia’s “horrific and atrocious” invasion and said the EU would help rebuild the country.
Russia creates a company to sell Ukrainian grain
Officials stationed by Russia in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine have set up a company to buy local grain and resell it on behalf of Moscow, a local representative told Interfax news agency on Saturday.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of stealing Ukrainian grain and causing a global food crisis that could result in millions starving to death.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of the pro-Russian interim administration in Zaporizhzhia, said the new state-owned grain company has taken control of several facilities.
Anti-tank obstacles are seen on Saturday in a wheat field in southern Ukraine from Mykolaiv. (Genya Savilov / AFP / Getty Images)
He said “the grain will be Russian” and “we don’t care who the buyer is.”
It was not clear whether the farmers whose grain Russia was selling were collecting. Balitsky said his administration would not appropriate the strength of cereals or pressure producers to sell them.
The head of the Ukrainian presidential office accused the Russian army of bombing and burning grain fields before the harvest. Andriy Yermak claimed that Moscow was “trying to repeat” a Soviet-era famine that claimed the lives of more than three million Ukrainians in 1932-33.
TARGET | Exports of grain from Ukraine hampered by Russian invasion:
Exports of grain from Ukraine obstructed by the Russian invasion
More than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain harvested are stranded within the country due to the blockade of Russia on major ports.
“Our soldiers are putting out the fires, though [Russia’s] “Food terrorism must be stopped,” Yermak told Telegram on Saturday.
The accuracy of his and Balitsky’s claims could not be independently verified.
Russian passports for residents in Ukraine
Russian forces occupying parts of southern Ukraine began handing Russian passports to local residents on Saturday.
In the Kherson region, 23 residents accepted Russian passports, including the new governor installed in Moscow, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
“For me, this is a truly historic moment. I have always thought that we are one country and one people,” the news agency was quoted as saying by Governor Volodymyr Balance.
TARGET | Kherson residents describe strict conditions:
Residents of the Russian-controlled city of Kherson describe strict conditions
Tens of thousands of residents of the Russian-controlled city of Kherson in southern Ukraine have fled since the start of the invasion of Moscow. Those who remain say that challenging Russia has consequences.
Russian forces have also begun issuing passports to the occupied city of Melitopol, according to Russian state news agency TASS. A TASS Telegram publication cited a local official based in Russia as the original source of the information.
He did not specify how many residents had applied for or received Russian citizenship.
Melitopol is located outside the Donbas, in the Zaporizhzhia region, which is still part of Ukraine.
Number of deaths among children
Nearly 800 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
According to a statement from the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, at least 287 children died as a result of military activity, while at least 492 others were injured.
The statement stressed that the figures were not definitive and said that they were based on the investigations of juvenile prosecutors.
The office said that children in the Ukrainian province of Donetsk suffered more, with 217 dead or injured, compared to 132 and 116, respectively, in the Kharkiv and Kyiv regions.
A civilian is killed in an explosion on the beach
Odessa city officials said Saturday that a man was killed in an explosion while visiting a Black Sea beach, where mines are a growing concern.
The city council has reported via Telegram that the man was there with his wife and son, despite warnings to stay away from the beaches in the area. He was testing the temperature and depth of the water when the explosion occurred.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of laying mines in the Black Sea.