Battle in eastern Ukraine continues as Zelenskiy vows to retake territory

Kyiv, June 8 (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces struggled to hold their ground in bloody street-to-street fighting in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation was difficult and also vowed to recapture the achievements of Russia.

The multi-day battle for the industrial city has become pivotal, with Russia focusing its offensive might in hopes of achieving one of its stated goals: fully capturing the surrounding Lugansk province on behalf of Russian-speaking separatists.

“We have to achieve a total vacancy of our entire territory,” Zelenskiy said via video link at an event organized by Britain’s Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday.

Asked about Frenchman Emmanuel Macron’s comments that it was important not to “humiliate” Moscow, interpreted in Ukraine as implying that some demands must be accepted, Zelenskiy said: “We are not going to humiliate anyone, we are going to respond the same way”.

Luhansk region governor Serhiy Gaidai said defenders were finding it difficult to repel Russian attacks in central Sievierodonetsk.

Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna remain the most difficult places, Zelenskiy said Tuesday night.

Moscow said its troops have been advancing. Reuters was unable to independently verify the situation on the ground.

Since being pushed out of Kyiv and Kharkiv, Russia has focused on the Ukrainian region known as Donbas, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, and the closest to the Russian border.

Moscow says it is involved in a “special military operation” to disarm and “denazify” its neighbor.

Ukraine and its allies call this a baseless pretext for a war that has killed thousands, leveled cities and forced millions to flee abroad. Russia denies targeting civilians.

BOMBING

Satellite images from Maxar Technologies (MAXR.N) collected on Monday showed significant damage in Sievierodonetsk and nearby Rubizhne.

“Russian multiple rocket launchers, self-propelled and towed artillery are deployed to the northeast and oriented in firing positions towards cities,” the US company said in a statement.

Ukrainian officials had said their forces staged a surprise counterattack last week, driving the Russians out of part of the city center.

Before then, Russia seemed on the verge of encircling the Ukrainian garrison in Lugansk, attempting to cut off the main highway to Sievierodonetsk and its twin city, Lysychansk.

In Druzhkivka, in the Ukrainian-controlled pocket of Donetsk province, residents searched through the rubble of houses destroyed by the latest shelling.

Nadezhda collected a pink children’s photo album and a kindergarten exercise book from the ruins of her house, and put them on a shelf that was somehow still in the rubble.

“I’m standing here watching but I have no idea what to do. I start crying, calm down and then cry again.”

Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, was also attacked on Tuesday and the local mayor said one person was killed. The northeastern city of the country had been quieter in recent weeks.

Viacheslav Shulga, an employee of a pizzeria in northern Kharkiv that was attacked, said there was hope the restaurant could reopen soon.

“Everything is destroyed. We are removing equipment, there will be no business here for now,” she said.

More than two weeks after the siege of the southern city of Mariupol ended, the Tass news agency quoted a Russian police source as saying that more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered there have been transferred to Russia for investigation.

GLOBAL CRISIS

As the effects of the war are felt around the world, the United States has added more sanctions to Moscow by prohibiting American money managers from buying any Russian debt or shares on secondary markets.

The World Bank has approved $1.49 billion in additional financing to help pay the salaries of government and social workers in Ukraine as it and other countries grapple with economic damage.

Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, and Western countries accuse Russia of creating the risk of global famine by closing Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

The governor of the region that includes the port of Mykolaiv said weekend shelling had destroyed warehouses at one of the country’s largest agricultural terminals. read more

Moscow denies responsibility for the international food crisis and blames Western sanctions.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Russian-occupied Ukrainian ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol were ready to resume grain exports. Ukraine says any such shipment from territory seized by Moscow would amount to illegal looting.

Zelenskiy said that Kyiv was gradually receiving “specific anti-ship systems”, the best way to break the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports.

For exports to resume from Ukrainian-controlled ports, Kyiv must first clear them of mines, according to the Kremlin. Russia could then inspect and escort ships into international waters, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Information from Reuters; Written by Costas Pitas; edited by Grant McCool

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