Updates from day 99 of the invasion
-
Zelensky says Russia currently occupies about 20 percent of Ukraine.
-
Severodonetsk in Luhansk continues to catch fire, with at least 4 new deaths.
-
Russia says it has shot down a Ukrainian fighter jet in Mykolaiv.
-
NATO Stoltenberg in Washington to meet with President Biden.
-
Britain will arm Ukraine with a rocket system.
-
The latest U.S. Treasury move targets Putin’s yachts.
Russian forces were trying to extend and consolidate their control over the Ukrainian industrial city of Severodonetsk on Thursday, about to claim a grand prize in its offensive in the eastern Donbas region.
After days of heavy fighting around Severodonetsk, much of which has been devastated by Russian bombing, Russian troops are slowly advancing through the streets of the city. Ukraine says about 70% of the city is under Russian control, with Russian troops in the city center.
“The enemy is conducting assault operations on the settlement of Severodonetsk,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said on Thursday, adding that Russian forces were also attacking other parts of the world. east and northeast.
At least four civilians were killed and 10 were injured in the east and northeast, officials said.
Russia denies targeting civilians.
TARGET | Mykolaiv, the key barrier to Russia’s advance, calm down and have:
Residents of Mykolaiv on the brink of the razor of the Russian invasion
For the past three months, the city of Mykolaiv has been a barrier between Russian troops in eastern Ukraine and cities such as Odessa in the west. Residents are patient, living on the edge of the razor.
Russia currently occupies about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Luxembourg parliament on Thursday in a video address.
“We have to defend ourselves from almost the entire Russian army. All ready-to-fight Russian military formations are involved in this aggression,” he said, noting that the front line was more than 1,000 kilometers long. .
Zelensky told an American media earlier this week that Ukraine was losing between 60 and 100 soldiers a day in combat.
Civilians in air raid shelters in Luhansk
Luhansk Regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Reuters that civilians were taking refuge from Russian attacks under a Severodonetsk chemical plant that he said was hit by an airstrike on Tuesday, releasing a large pink cloud.
“There are civilians there in the air raid shelters, there are quite a few,” Gaidai said. Reuters could not independently confirm the account.
Local residents gather at an air raid shelter in the city of Rubizhne in the Luhansk region of Ukraine on Wednesday. (Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters)
Gaidai said about 15,000 people remained in the city.
The British Defense Ministry said on Thursday in its daily intelligence update that Russia controlled most of the city, which had a population of about 101,000 before the war, and that Ukrainian forces had destroyed bridges. on the river to Lysychansk.
Capturing all of Luhansk, one of the two Donbas provinces along with Donetsk that Moscow claims on behalf of the separatists, would fulfill one of the main goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin and consolidate a change in battlefield momentum after his forces were expelled from the capital Kyiv. and northern Ukraine.
The governor of Donetsk said on Thursday that Russian forces were trying to advance south of the region into key Ukrainian-controlled cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
“The Lyman and Izyum fronts are the main directions in which the enemy is trying to advance to capture the territories of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. [their] key targets in the north of the region, “Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said at a briefing.
Kyrylenko also said that 340,000 residents remain in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region, a population of 1.67 million before the war.
TARGET | The war in Ukraine threatens decades of scientific research:
How the war in Ukraine threatens decades of scientific research
As conflict escalates in Ukraine, scientists and academics seek new homes for research
Outside the Donbas, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its army had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine.
He also said in a briefing that he had hit command posts of Ukrainian forces near northeastern Kharkiv.
It was not possible to confirm the information independently.
Putin sent his troops to the border in what he called a special military operation on February 24 to disarm and “de-sanitize” Ukraine. Ukraine and its allies say this is an unfounded pretext for a war of aggression, and the West has imposed strict sanctions on Russia for trying to alienate its economy.
Thousands have died in Ukraine and millions more have been displaced since the start of the invasion, which has also affected food supplies and energy markets. Russia and Ukraine account for almost a third of the world’s wheat supply, while Russia is also a key exporter of fertilizers, oil and natural gas.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said Kyiv was working with international partners to create a UN-backed mission to restore the Black Sea sea routes and allow the export of Ukrainian agricultural products. .
Britain to send missiles
The UK said on Thursday it would send sophisticated mid-range rocket systems to Ukraine. Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace says the UK will send an unspecified number of M270 launchers, which can send guided rockets with an accuracy of up to 80 kilometers.
The UK said Ukrainian troops will be trained in the UK to use the equipment.
Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces watch the FIFA World Cup qualifier between Scotland and Ukraine on Tuesday from a mobile phone in a shelter in Kharkiv. Ukraine defeated Scotland in the party. (Vitalii Hnidyi / Reuters)
Ukraine has called on its Western allies to send more powerful missiles to help counter Russian artillery attacks in the eastern Donbas region, the focus of Moscow’s offensive.
The UK announcement follows new military aid packages to Ukraine this week from the US, Germany and the Netherlands.
The United States has announced a $ 700 million US weapons package for Kyiv that will include four advanced rocket systems, known as HIMARS, with a range of up to 80 kilometers.
Britain said it had coordinated its package with the Americans.
The decision to give rocket systems to Ukraine was made after Washington received assurances from Kyiv that it would not use them to hit targets within Russian territory, which could extend the war.
More US sanctions
Ukraine has been looking for multiple rocket launch systems such as the M270 and M142 HIMARS to provide more firepower and more range to hit Russian forces far behind the front line.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during his daily conference that the “pumping” of weapons “will bring more suffering to Ukraine, which is just a tool in the hands of the countries that supply it with weapons.”
Today, the Treasury is targeting key intermediaries, networks and display companies that have helped Russian elites, including President Vladimir Putin, hide and move money and luxury assets around the world.https://t.co/T0KzFnRqho
– @USTreasury
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is expected to meet with US President Biden in Washington on Thursday morning.
The Biden administration on Thursday issued a new round of Russia-related sanctions targeting 17 people, including Sergei Roldugin, a close partner of Putin, a U.S. Treasury department said Thursday in a notice on its website.
The latest sanctions also targeted 16 entities, including Putin-linked yachts and three planes, according to the warning.