UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – Ukrainian authorities reported “fierce fighting” in Donbass on Saturday while Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled south to Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian authorities on Saturday reported “bitter fighting” in villages near the eastern city of Sieverodonetsk, which Russian troops have been trying to bring under their control for weeks. “Now the fiercest fighting is taking place near Sieverodonetsk. They (the Russians) do not fully control the city,” the governor of the eastern Lugansk region Sergey Gaidai said on Telegram.
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“Fighting is very difficult in neighboring villages – in Toshkivska, Zolote. They try to break through but fail,” he said. “Our defenders are fighting the Russians in all directions. Recently they shot down a plane and took prisoners,” he said. Sergey Gaidai also said that Lysyhansk – a Ukrainian-controlled city separated from Sieverodonetsk by a river – was “under heavy fire”. Sergey Gaidai also said that Lysyhansk – a Ukrainian-controlled city separated from Sieverodonetsk by a river – was “under heavy fire”.
“They can’t get close and so they just shoot at the city with airstrikes,” he said. The situation is “very dangerous in the city”. Serguiï Gaïdaï reported “further destruction” at the Azot chemical plant in Sieverodonetsk, where hundreds of civilians are refugees. On Friday, he said that 568 people, including 38 children, were hiding at the factory and that only a “full ceasefire” would allow their evacuation.
Rare trip from Zelenskyy to southern Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose trips outside the capital Kyiv have been infrequent since the Russian invasion began, paid his first visit to the southern Ukraine city of Mykolayiv on Saturday. A video released by the Ukrainian Presidency shows him inspecting a badly damaged apartment building and holding a meeting with local officials.
Mykolaiv, a pre-war port and industrial city of nearly half a million people, is still under Ukrainian control but is close to the Russian-held Kherson region. It remains a Moscow destination because it is on the way to Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port, 130 km to the south-west. The visit comes a day after a Russian attack in the city killed two and wounded 20. In the video, local governor Vitaliy Kim Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows the damage to a residential building. The large building shows a gaping hole through which the interior of the apartments can be seen.
A blue and yellow Ukrainian trident can be seen on one of the broken windows. Volodymyr Zelensky also attended a meeting with local officials in an underground cellar, where he presented awards for bravery. His office said they “discussed the state of the economy, the restoration of the water supply and the agricultural situation.” “Particular attention was paid to land and sea threats. We never stop working for victory,” the statement said.
Five civilians killed, 12 injured in shelling in Donetsk
Five civilians were killed and 12 others wounded in Ukrainian shelling in Donetsk in breakaway eastern Ukraine on Saturday, pro-Russian local authorities said in a statement.
“Five people were killed and 12 others injured in Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) as a result of shelling by Ukrainian forces,” the General Staff of local authorities said in the statement published on Telegram.
In Kyiv, a crowd at the funeral of a Maidan figure killed in battle
Hundreds of people flocked to the gold-domed St. Michael’s Monastery in central Kyiv on Saturday to attend the funeral of a young Ukrainian activist who was killed in the east and was a figure of the pro-movement.-European Maidan, noted AFP. Roman Ratouchny died on June 9 near Izium in the Kharkiv region, where Ukrainian forces are facing the Russian army that invaded the country on February 24.
On Saturday morning, four soldiers carried the coffin of the deceased, greeted by the crowd, in the presence of many soldiers. The coffin was placed at the entrance to the monastery where the funeral service took place. Hundreds of people silently attended the ceremony, some carrying flowers, others a Ukrainian flag on their backs, an AFP journalist noted.
Russians consolidate their hold on Snake Island
The Russian army has increased its hold on Snake Island in the Black Sea and deployed several defense systems, suggesting that despite the threat of new artillery systems and Ukrainian missile fire, it has no intention of simply letting go of this strategic point. The latest open-source satellite images of this island off the Ukrainian and Romanian coasts make it possible to distinguish different surface-to-air defense systems, and the Russians have also installed them on ships positioned nearby to further strengthen the protective bubble .
“The Russians have deployed several anti-aircraft systems on the island, covering different spectrums of threats, SA-13, Pantsir, Tor, ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns,” notes French researcher Pierre Grasser, a Russian defense specialist associated with the Sirice laboratory Sorbonne.
risk of starvation
EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell accused Russia on Saturday of exposing the world to famine by blocking grain exports from Ukraine and restricting its own exports. Josep Borrell condemned “Russia’s conscious political decision to + militarize + grain exports and use them as a tool of blackmail against anyone who resists their aggression” in Ukraine.
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Threats to food security will be the focus of EU foreign ministers’ discussions in Luxembourg on Monday.