The situation in Luhansk has “extremely escalated,” the governor says
A posting of Reuters reporters here in Ukraine as Russia continues its assaults on attempts to capture the Donbas region.
Ukrainian forces on Sunday resisted a Russian assault on Sievierodonetsk, the largest city they still have in the eastern Donbas region, but were resisting heavy artillery bombardment, Ukrainian officials said.
The bombing was so intense that it was not possible to assess the casualties and the damage, said Luhansk Region Governor Serhiy Gaidai. Dozens of buildings have been destroyed in recent days.
“The situation has increased a lot,” Gaidai said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government urged the West to equip it with more powerful weapons to turn the tide of war, now in its fourth month.
The battle for Sievierodonetsk, located on the eastern side of the Siverskyi Donets River, has become the focus of attention as Russia gains slow but solid gains in the Donbas, which includes the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Russia’s annexation of Sievierodonetsk had drawn resources from other battlefields and, as a result, little progress had been made elsewhere, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the military situation in the Donbas, parts of which are controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, was very complicated, but that defenses remain in various places, such as Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
“It is indescribably difficult there. And I am grateful to all those who resisted this attack,” he said in his nightly video address.
Updated at 11.56 BST
Poland has agreed to send artillery to Ukraine, according to Polish state media. A plan for Poland to transfer 28 family-owned MiG-29 planes to Ukrainian pilots in March across the U.S. collapsed after the White House objected. Last month, the United Kingdom said it was planning to send British Challenger 2 tanks to Poland so that Warsaw could send more T-72 tanks to Ukraine, the Russian design used by its armed forces.
Poland has donated 18 modern self-propelled 155 mm “AHS Krab” shells to Ukraine, according to Polish state media. ⁇
These extremely effective weapons have a maximum range of 40 km and a standard range of 30 km.https: //t.co/ImCcvbxnG3.
– Jimmy (@JimmySecUK) May 29, 2022
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, said he understood the decision of the branch of the Ukrainian Church to sever ties with Moscow.
“We fully understand how the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is suffering today,” the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in central Moscow.
“We understand that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy and the Episcopate should act with the utmost wisdom today so as not to complicate the lives of their believers,” Patriarch Kirill said in his first comments since the announcement, according to Agence -France Press.
He added that the “evil spirits” wanted to divide the Orthodox people of Russia and Ukraine, but would not succeed.
On Friday, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which had aligned itself with Moscow, announced it was severing ties with Russia over its offensive in Ukraine, declaring “full independence” in a historic move against Russian spiritual authorities.
The pro-Moscow branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had previously pledged allegiance to Russian Patriarch Kirill, who has fully supported President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Updated at 12.28 BST
Russia will continue to supply gas to Serbia, following a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić.
The Kremlin said the leaders discussed the problems of Ukraine and Kosovo, and that the two countries would form a closer partnership, according to Reuters.
Vučić said he had agreed a three-year gas supply deal with Putin, with more details to be finalized with producer Gazprom. In the phone call, he also talked about expanding his country’s gas storage network.
Updated at 12.13 BST
Patrick Wintour Vladimir Kara-Murza, vice president of the Russian Open, testifies before a Senate Subcommittee on Assignments in Washington. Photo: Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Vladimir Kara-Murza’s wife, Evgenia, believes she will have been like a “hurricane in a bottle” since she was arrested on April 11 in Moscow and detained in pretrial detention for a speech in Arizona criticizing the Ukrainian war. .
“He has so much energy, so many ideas and initiatives, that being contained within the four walls of a prison will be the hardest part for him,” said Evgenia, who was unable to speak to him.
As a Russian politician, activist and critic of the regime, Vladimir Kara-Murza worked for 15 years alongside Boris Nemtsov, another opposition leader, who was assassinated in 2015.
Updated at 12.12 BST
The situation in Luhansk has “extremely escalated,” the governor says
A message here from Reuters reporters in Ukraine as Russia continues its assaults on attempts to capture the Donbas region.
Ukrainian forces on Sunday resisted a Russian assault on Sievierodonetsk, the largest city they still have in the eastern Donbas region, but were resisting heavy artillery bombardment, Ukrainian officials said.
The bombing was so intense that it was not possible to assess the casualties and the damage, said Luhansk Region Governor Serhiy Gaidai. Dozens of buildings have been destroyed in recent days.
“The situation has increased a lot,” Gaidai said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government urged the West to equip it with more powerful weapons to turn the tide of war, now in its fourth month.
The battle for Sievierodonetsk, located on the eastern side of the Siverskyi Donets River, has become the focus of attention as Russia gains slow but solid gains in the Donbas, which includes the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Russia’s annexation of Sievierodonetsk had drawn resources from other battlefields and, as a result, little progress had been made elsewhere, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the military situation in the Donbas, parts of which are controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, was very complicated, but that defenses remain in various places, such as Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
“It is indescribably difficult there. And I am grateful to all those who resisted this attack,” he said in his nightly video address.
Updated at 11.56 BST
Andrei Kelin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, is interviewed by Clive Myrie on BBC One’s Sunday Morning. Photo: Jeff Overs / BBC / Reuters
Emily Dugan
More than 500 Ukrainian children who fled the war without their parents are trapped waiting in limbo across Europe after applying for the Household Plan for Ukraine, say sources working closely with the Interior Ministry.
Most are teenagers who thought they would be eligible and have British families waiting to take them in, but have heard nothing from the Home Office.
Many have been waiting for two or more months unanswered due to indecision about how to handle their cases.
The best-selling Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov wrote today in the Sunday Times in the United Kingdom, talking about the uncertainty that many in the country face.
Kurkov, who wrote the acclaimed Death and the Penguin, wrote his piece when there was a call in Davos this week by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for Ukraine to cede territory in exchange of peace.
Some interesting excerpts here
I understand that those on whom the outcome of the war depends may not be as interested in the victory of Ukraine as I am. They may not see a way to return the occupied territories to Ukraine and protect our independence while ensuring their own security and prosperity.
Kurkov wrote that there were delays in supplying old fighter jets to help Ukraine’s air force, and the Swiss and Israeli governments have blocked sales of howitzers and missiles.
I tried to find a person in Ukraine who approved an agreement with Putin to end the war. But I failed.
Nina Yanchuk, a retired woman living with her husband, Tolik, next to our summer home in rural Zhytomyr, used to be defiant when I asked her if it would be better to come to an agreement with Putin.
“No, there can be no negotiations with Putin, only war until the end. How can you talk about anything with him after these atrocities? Moreover, he is a cheater. How many times has he deceived everyone?”
Far from the morning TV round in the UK, Reuters reports that the Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed a large arsenal of the Ukrainian army in Kryvyi Rih.
The Defense Ministry said that Russian air defense systems shot down an SU-25 plane in Dnipro, according to the Russian news agency Tass.
Updated at 11.01 BST
Myrie asks if Kelin believes Russia could use nuclear weapons against the United Kingdom, as reported by Russian Channel One journalist Dmitry Kiselyov, or against Ukraine in the conflict.
Kelin says, “No, no, I don’t think so. He’s a journalist, he’s like you, he’s trying to find something juicy to put on TV and make it loud, a strong statement, he’s done it, like you, trying to instigate me. He has instigated a discussion.
“Tactical nuclear weapons according to Russian military doctrine are not used at all in conflicts like this. I don’t think so. We have strict provisions on the use of tactical nuclear weapons. It has nothing to do with the current operation.”
And that’s it.
Updated at 11.00 BST
Myrie asks Kelin if she is afraid to talk about how Bondarev did against the war this week.
He said he did not agree with Bondarev in any way.
Kelin becomes increasingly irritable. “It simply came to our notice then. If you are only interested in provoking me … then it will be ours …