- Advanced American rockets will not be launched in Russia, official
- Russia conducts nuclear drills
- Russian forces increase control of the city of Sievierodonetsk
- Russia cuts more gas in Europe after EU agrees to ban oil
Kyiv, June 1 (Reuters) – Russian troops on Wednesday pressured assault on a factory town they believe is key to controlling a strip of eastern Ukraine, while the United States has said it will supply advanced rockets to Kyiv to help him force Moscow to negotiate an end to the war.
The Ukrainian General Staff said that Russian forces, now 98 days after its invasion, were also attacking targets, such as key infrastructure in other areas of the east and south, including the city of Sievierodonetsk, a industrial center that has been the main focus of Russia’s offensive in recent days.
President Joe Biden announced the supply of advanced rocket and ammunition systems that could accurately hit long-range Russian targets as part of a $ 700 million weapons package expected to be unveiled on Wednesday. Read more
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“We have moved quickly to send a large amount of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine so that it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table,” Biden wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times.
A senior Biden administration official said the new supplies, which are in addition to billions of dollars worth of other equipment, such as drones and anti-aircraft missiles, included the high artillery rocket system. mobility (HIMARS) M142, which Kyiv has said is “crucial.” “to counter Russian missile attacks.
Moscow described the new US aid package as “extremely negative”, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov told state news agency RIA Novosti.
Concerned that these weapons could lead the United States into direct conflict, senior government officials said Ukraine had assured that the missiles would not be used to attack Russia.
“Ukrainians will use these systems to repel Russian advances on Ukrainian territory, but they will not be used on targets in Russian territory,” a U.S. official said.
NUCLEAR FORCES
Shortly after the US decision was announced, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian nuclear forces were conducting drills in Ivanovo province, northeast of Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported.
Some 1,000 soldiers were engaged in heavy maneuvers using more than 100 vehicles, including Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, the ministry said. Read more
The Interfax report did not mention the US decision to supply new weapons.
The Ukrainian General Staff said that Russian forces continued to strike the northern, southern and eastern districts of the city of Sievierodonetsk in Luhansk, one of the two provinces in the eastern Donbas region that Moscow claims in name of the separatists.
If Russia captures Sievierodonetsk and its smaller twin Lysychansk on the upper west bank of the Siverskyi Donets River, it will occupy all of Luhansk, a key war target of President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
A local resident stands next to the remains of an open market destroyed by a military strike as Russia continues its attack on Ukraine in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, April 16, 2022. REUTERS / Serhii Nuzhnenko / Stock Photo
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The city has been largely reduced to rubble, with almost all critical infrastructure destroyed and 60 percent of residential property damaged without repair, regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Tuesday. Russian bombings have made it impossible to deliver aid or evacuate people, he added.
The British Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence report that Russian forces, including Chechen fighters, now control more than half of Sievierodonetsk after two days of intense street fighting.
The leader of the pro-Moscow Lugansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, told the TASS news agency that Russian officials had moved more slowly than expected to “maintain the city’s infrastructure” and be careful. around its chemical factories.
Gaidai warned Sievierodonetsk residents not to leave the air raid shelters because of what he said was a Russian air strike on a nitric acid tank. The police force of the Lugansk People’s Republic accused Ukrainian forces of damaging it. Read more
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s aid agency, which had been operating from Sievierodonetsk for some time, said he was “horrified” by its destruction.
As many as 12,000 civilians remain trapped in the crossfire, with insufficient access to water, food, medicine or electricity, Egeland said.
“The almost constant bombardment is forcing civilians to seek refuge in air raid and underground shelters, with few precious opportunities for those trying to escape,” he said.
PACK OF WEAPONS
Ukraine says weapons sent by the United States and other countries since the start of the invasion have helped prevent Russian gains.
The new U.S. package includes ammunition, counter-fire radars, various air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank missiles, as well as anti-armor weapons, officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for more weapons while criticizing the European Union, which on Monday agreed to reduce Russian oil imports, not to sanction Russia’s energy earlier.
The EU has said it would ban imports of Russian oil by sea. Officials said that would stop two-thirds of Russia’s oil exports to Europe earlier and 90% by the end of this year. Read more
In response to the EU oil embargo, Russia expanded its gas cuts in Europe, raising prices and increasing its economic battle with Brussels. Read more
Putin launched his “special operation” on February 24 to disarm and “destabilize” Ukraine. Ukraine and its Western allies call this an unfounded pretext for a war to seize territory.
Ukraine accuses Russia of large-scale war crimes, flattening cities and killing and raping civilians. Russia denies allegations.
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Reuters office reports; Written by Stephen Coates and Gareth Jones; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Frank Jack Daniel
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