Ukraine: Fierce fighting underway Sievierodonetsk, governor says — live updates
- Zelenskyy is to address a special summit of EU leaders
- Fierce fighting reported in Luhansk city of Sievierodonetsk
- Russia says its ‘top priority’ is victory in Ukraine’s Donbas
This article was last updated at 07:51 UTC/GMT
UK says Russian losses threaten future effectiveness
The Uk’s defense ministry says Russia appears to have suffered heavy losses among its junior and mid-ranking officers.
The depth of losses could pose a threat to Russia’s military effectiveness in future, the ministry said.
In their latest defense intelligence update, officials said brigade and batallion commmanders were probably deployed to the most dangerous positions.
Meanwhile, the report said, junior officers had ended up leading some of the lower-level tactical actions. It said Russia lacks the more trained non-commissioned officers who would normally fulfill those roles in Western armies.
Losing younger officers also meant Russia was likely to struggle more in modernizing its military command and control.
Meanwhile, the ministry also reported upset within the ranks.
“With multiple credible reports of localized mutinies amongst Russia’s forces in Ukraine, a lack of experienced and credible platoon and company commanders is likely to result [in] a further decrease in morale and continued poor discipline,” it said.
Luhansk governor says fighting ‘very fierce’ in Sievierodonetsk
Russian troops have entered the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai says.
Haidai, who described the fighting as “very fierce,” said shelling had killed two civilians and wounded five others.
“Unfortunately we have disappointing news, the enemy is moving into the city,” Haidai told national television. While they were in the city, the governor said, they were not in the center.
Haidai said, however, that the neighboring city of Lysychansk remained under Ukrainian control, and that daily evacuations were being carried out from there.
He said a road linking the two cities had not been blocked but remained subject to shelling. Haidai said it was still possible to deliver humanitarian aid to both cities on a daily basis.
Haidai also blamed Germany and Hungary for a lack of weapons on the Ukrainian side, claiming that both countries were holding back the supply of arms.
French foreign minister heads to Kyiv
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a visit to express support to Kyiv.
Colonna’s trip comes amid some criticism that France is not doing enough to help Ukraine in its efforts to fend off Russia.
She will also meet her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, “to discuss in particular the blocking of grain and oilseed exports from Ukraine, which raises real risks of food insecurity,” a statement from the French Foreign Ministry said.
Colonna is also expected to visit Bucha, a town where massacres of civilians blamed on Russian troops have taken place.
Russia faces resistance in Sievierodonetsk, Kherson
Russian forces have tried to storm the strategic city of Sievierodonetsk after trying unsuccessfully to surround it, Ukrainian officials say.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the situation in the city as “indescribably difficult,” as Russia shells the city relentlessly.
Some 90% of the city’s buildings have been damaged and there are fears Sievierodonetsk could become the next Mariupol, the city on the Sea of Azov that held out for three months under siege by Russian troops.
Zelenskyy has said that capturing the city is the main priority at present for Russian forces.
Meanwhile, there are signs that Ukrainian forces are staging an operation to take back some villages near the southern city of Kherson, which was taken by the Russians in March.
Ukraine’s military leadership says it has forced Russian troops into “unfavorable positions” around the villages of Andriyivka, Lozovo and Bilohorka.
“Kherson, hold on. We’re close!” Ukraine’s general staff tweeted.
Kherson, which borders the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, is under the control of a new pro-Russian administration. Moscow-backed officials there have been pushing for annexation by Russia.
Zelenskyy to speak to EU leaders amid divisions over Russia sanctions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to push European leaders on Monday to sanction Russia further and ask for more sophisticated and powerful weapons.
On Sunday, he told CNN that Russia was “prevailing” in terms of weaponry, “they outnumber us, they outgun us.”
In a separate televised address, he said Ukraine was doing everything it could to contain the Russian offensive in the east. “There was not a day that we did not try to find more weapons, more modern weapons to defend our land, to defend our people,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy was scheduled to address a summit of EU leaders on Monday. He said he would press the bloc to “kill Russian exports.”
Diplomats in Brussels have failed to agree on a plan to phase out Russian oil. Talks have been going on for a month and would continue Monday.
Last week, Zelenskyy expressed frustration that the EU has struggled to reach a consensus.
Hungary, which is dependent on Russian oil, is holding up the sixth round of punitive sanctions against Russia. An EU-wide embargo requires unanimity from all 27 member states.
NATO claims the right to deploy in Eastern Europe
NATO is no longer bound by past commitments to hold back from deploying its forces in Eastern Europe, the alliance’s deputy secretary-general has said.
Mircea Geoana told news agency AFP, that Moscow itself has “voided” the NATO-Russia Founding Act, by attacking Ukraine and halting dialogue with the alliance.
The 1997 Founding Act intended to reset the relationship between Russia and NATO.
“They took decisions, they made obligations there not to aggress neighbors, which they are doing, and to have regular consultations with NATO, which they don’t,” said Geoana.
“So I think that in fact this founding act is basically not functioning because of Russia,” he added.
He anticipated “a robust, flexible and sustainable presence,” of NATO forces in Eastern Europe.
Summary of Sunday’s events in the war in Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited frontline positions in the Kharkiv region on Sunday, his first official visit outside of Kyiv since Russia invaded on February 24. He met with soldiers and gave awards. “I want to thank each of you for your service,” he said according to a statement on the president’s website.
Moscow’s “top priority” is the “liberation” of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. In an interview with France’s TF1 Television, Lavrov said the war was not about the “annexation” of eastern regions of Ukraine but “restoring their territorial integrity.”
Germany’s coalition government and the conservative CDU/CSU alliance on Sunday agreed on the details of a €100 billion ($107 billion) boost to the country’s military spending. The massive investment in the German armed forces was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that he still intends to block NATO accession for Finland and Sweden, once again accusing the two Baltic states of being soft on “terrorism.”
“As long as Tayyip Erdogan is at the head of the Turkish state, we cannot say ‘Yes’ to NATO accession of countries that support terror,” he said in remarks published in Turkish media, including Sunday’s Hurriyet newspaper.
Eurovision Song Contest winners Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra raised $900,000 (€838,491) for the country’s military by auctioning their trophy. The money will be used to buy a PD-2 unmanned aerial system or drone for the Ukrainian armed forces.
You can revisit our live updates from May 29 here.
lo/jsi (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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