Ukraine says Donbas front line is unchanged — live updates

• Zelenskyy claims no Russian breakthrough in Donbas
• Russia losing ‘up to 300 soldiers per day’
• World Bank approves almost $1.5 billion for Ukraine

This article was last updated at 23:47 UTC/GMT

Moscow playing ‘blame game’ around Ukrainian grain exports

DW correspondent Nick Connolly reported from Ukraine’s southwestern port city of Odesa and said that Russia was playing a “blame game” around grain exports after destroying key infrastructure.

Connolly said that there was a lot of “diplomatic noise,” a solution to the impasse between Kyiv and Moscow regarding Ukrainian grain exports, referring to talks in Turkey. He added that “this is about the blame game right now. This is not about real solutions.”

“Otherwise, Russia would not have destroyed Ukraine’s second-biggest grain terminal just a few days ago in Mykolaiv.” He said that the infrastructure that would allow grain to get to North Africa and the Middle East was being “destroyed bit by bit.”

Connolly said that Russia has been bombing oil refineries and oil storage units and roads.

According to Connolly, Moscow is attempting to place the blame on Kyiv for stalled exports after seeing that African and Middle Eastern countries were concerned. These countries are “traditionally a lot more sympathetic to Russian narratives than is the case in Europe”, Connolly said.

Odesa’s tourism industry has been devastated and Ukrainians’ savings are running low, Connolly said. “Even in parts of the country that are safe from Russian attack, people don’t know if their jobs will still be there in a week or a month’s time.”

Connolly said that there were unconfirmed reports of a cholera outbreak in the southeastern port city of Mariupol. “Mariupol is a city of ruins, people there have very little access to sanitation.”

World Bank approves $1.49 billion for Ukraine

The World Bank’s executive board has approved $1.49 billion (€1.39 billion) of additional financing for Ukraine.

This expands the organization’s total pledged support to over $4 billion.

The funds are to help Kyiv pay wages for government and social workers. Ukraine has said it needs at least $5 billion per month in the near term to keep its government operating.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says front line hasn’t moved, Russia losing 300 soldiers a day

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that Russian troops have not achieved a breakthrough against Ukrainian forces in Donbas.

“The situation on the front has not undergone any significant changes in the past 24 hours,” Zelensky said. He added that “the extremely heroic defense of Donbas continues.”

Ukraine’s president said that the fiercest fighting was continuing around Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk and Popasna.

“There’s a sense that the occupiers did not believe the resistance would be so strong,” he said.

Zelenskyy claimed that 31,000 Russian soldiers have lost their lives in Ukraine since the invasion began.

“Since February 24, Russia has been paying almost 300 lives a day for a completely pointless war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. The figure could not be independently verified.

“And still the day will come when the number of losses, even for Russia, will exceed the permissible limit.”

What happened in Russia’s war on Ukraine on Tuesday

The Ukrainian military has said that Russia handed over to Kyiv the bodies of 210 Ukrainian fighters, most of whom who died defending the city of Mariupol.

In her first major interview since leaving office, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but said she refused to apologize for her policies towards Moscow. She also defended her opposition to Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO in 2008.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Turkey for talks over unblocking grain exports from Ukraine.

Deutsche Bank offered all 1,500 or so employees of its IT centers in St. Petersburg and Moscow a job position in Germany.

A Russian military prosecutor said that 12 military officers were being charged for allegedly allowing conscripts to be sent to fight in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held talks in Lithuania with the heads of three Baltic countries about the state of security on NATO’s eastern flank.

Russia’s ambassador to the UN stormed out of a Security Council meeting after European Council President Charles Michel accused Russia of using food supplies as “a stealth missile against developing countries.”

You can revisit our live updates from June 7 here.

sdi/rt (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-says-donbas-front-line-is-unchanged-live-updates/a-62059041?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf