KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP) – Russia-backed separatists say they have captured a central railway city in eastern Ukraine as Moscow forces pushed for more ground on Friday by hitting another Ukrainian-controlled area where authorities they say 1,500 people have died since the start of the war. .
With Russia’s offensive in Ukraine’s Donbas industrial region showing growing progress, Ukrainian officials characterized the battle there in serious terms and renewed their calls for more sophisticated Western-supplied weapons. Without this, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister warned, Ukrainian forces will not be able to stop Russia’s advance eastward.
Some European leaders sought a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end a war on its 93rd day that has devastated both the European and Russian economies, while the British Foreign Secretary was working to gather the continued support from the West in Ukraine.
“There should be no talk of a ceasefire or of appeasing Putin. We need to make sure that Ukraine wins. And that Russia withdraws and that we never see this kind of Russian aggression again,” he said. the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss.
But in eastern Ukraine, Russia has the advantage. Friday’s clashes focused on two key cities: Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk. These are the last areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk, one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas and where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled some territory for eight years.
“There are battles on the outskirts of the city. Mass artillery bombardment does not stop day and night, “Sievierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Striuk told The Associated Press.” The city is being systematically destroyed: 90% of the city’s buildings are damaged. “.
There was an assault on the city’s northeastern district, where Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups tried to capture the Mir Hotel and surrounding area on Friday, Striuk said.
At least 1,500 people have died in Sievierodonetsk because of the war since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, he said.
The figure includes people killed in bombings or fires caused by Russian missile attacks, as well as those who died from shrapnel wounds, untreated diseases, lack of medicine or were trapped under the rubble, according to the mayor.
Between 12,000 and 13,000 people remain in the city, below a pre-war population of about 100,000, he said. Those who remain are crammed into shelters and are largely separated from the rest of Ukraine.
In Donetsk, the other province in the Donbas region, Russian-backed rebels said on Friday they had taken control of Lyman, a large railway hub north of two more key cities that remain under Ukrainian control.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich acknowledged that “we lost Lyman” on Thursday night. However, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that his soldiers had resisted Russian attempts to drive them completely out of the city.
Ukrainian analysts say Russian forces have taken advantage of delays in Western arms shipments to intensify their offensive in the east and secure territory before Ukrainian fighters can retreat them.
Russia introduced 10-12 additional battalion tactical groups in the area, said military analyst Oleh Zhdanov.
Throwing so much muscle on the offensive could also be counterproductive, seriously depleting Russia’s arsenal. Echoing an assessment by the British Ministry of Defense, Zhdanov said Russia was deploying 50-year-old T-62 tanks, “which means the world’s second largest army has run out of modernized equipment.”
Mykola Sunhurovskyi, an analyst at the Razumkov Center in Kyiv, said that from now on, “It is in Putin’s interest to consolidate the situation that has developed today at the front, uprooting Ukraine’s strength, and securing it. line of contact, as a position in the (eventual) negotiations.
When Ukraine’s hopes of stopping Russia’s advance faded, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba pleaded with Western nations: “We need heavy weapons. The only position where Russia is better “We have a lot of heavy weapons. Without artillery, without multiple rocket launch systems, we can’t push them back.”
In his nightly speech to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said harsh words to the European Union, which has not agreed to a sixth round of sanctions including a embargo on Russian oil. With Hungary blocking the deal, EU countries are looking for other ways to punish Russia.
“The pressure on Russia is literally a matter of saving lives,” Zelenskyy said. “And every day of delay, weakness, various disputes or proposals to ‘appease’ the aggressor at the expense of the victim are new Ukrainians killed. And new threats for everyone on our continent. “
Zelenskyy said Russia’s offensive on the Donbas could leave its communities in ashes and uninhabitable. He accused Moscow of pursuing “an obvious policy of genocide” through mass deportations and killings of civilians.
Russian bombings in Kharkiv, a northeastern city that has been under assault while Ukrainian forces keep invading troops out, killed nine people, including a father and his 5-month-old baby, the president said. .
Associated Press reporters saw the bodies of at least two men dead and four wounded at a central subway station, where the victims were transported as the bombing continued outside.
In the north, neighboring Belarus announced on Friday that it was sending troops to the border with Ukraine, which has raised concerns in Ukraine’s military command. Russia used Belarus as a starting point before invading Ukraine.
The German development minister traveled to Ukraine on Friday to pledge more civilian support and to discuss rebuilding the country. Meanwhile, the Austrian chancellor was ready to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin about possible prisoner exchanges.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi spoke with Putin on Thursday, but did not report any progress. “If you ask me if there are openings for peace, the answer is no,” Draghi told reporters.
Putin and Draghi’s talks focused on the issue of unblocking Ukrainian ports to allow grain to be delivered to countries suffering from a food crisis and to avoid the risk of shops rotting in the port.
Moscow on Thursday urged the West to lift war sanctions, seeking to shift the blame for a growing global food crisis that has been exacerbated by Kyiv’s inability to ship millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products while it was in power. under attack.
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Karmanau reported from Lyiv, Ukraine. Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and PA journalists from around the world contributed.
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