Fighting intensifies in fierce battle for eastern Ukraine

Kyiv, June 7 (Reuters) – Street clashes between Ukrainian and Russian troops erupted in the battle for the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk as Moscow forces pushed to conquer Ukraine’s eastern Donbas, seeking a decisive victory over 100 days after the invasion.

It was unclear which side had the upper hand, with “the situation changing from hour to hour,” Oleksandr Stryuk, head of administration in Sievierodonetsk, said on television.

The city has become the main target of Russia’s offensive in Donbas, which encompasses Lugansk and Donetsk provinces, as the Kremlin invasion continues in a war of attrition that has seen cities flattened by artillery shelling.

“Fierce street fighting continues in the city,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his late-night video address on Monday. “The Russian army is trying to deploy additional forces to Donbas.”

The province’s governor, Serhiy Gaidai, said on Monday the situation had worsened after Ukrainian defenders pushed the Russians back over the weekend when they appeared close to victory.

Two civilians were killed in Russian shelling in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Monday and Russian forces fired on more than 20 communities, according to the Ukrainian military.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield reports. Russia denies targeting civilians in the conflict.

“We are offering people the opportunity to evacuate,” Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on television.

“From Sloviansk we had more than 100 people evacuated since last week. About 24,000 residents remain. People now understand, even though it is late, that it is time to go.”

After being expelled from Kyiv and Kharkiv in the early stages of the war, Russia says it is on a mission to “liberate” Donbas, partly controlled by separatists since 2014, and is taking part in a “special military operation” to disarm and “denazify”. “Her neighbor of hers.

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

‘EXACTLY THE WEAPONS WE NEED’

Zelenskiy thanked Britain for supplying multiple launch rocket systems that can hit targets up to 80 km (50 miles) away, providing the more precise long-range firepower needed to hit Russian artillery batteries, key to Moscow battle plans.

“I am grateful to Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his full understanding of our demands and his readiness to provide Ukraine with exactly the weapons it needs to protect the lives of our people,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would respond to Western deliveries of long-range weapons by pushing Ukrainian forces further from the Russian border.

On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia would attack new targets if the West supplied longer-range missiles. On the same day, Russian missiles hit Kyiv for the first time in more than a month.

Russian forces were also advancing towards Sloviansk, which is about 85 km (53 miles) west of Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said.

‘RUSSIA STEALS GRAIN’

Amid a worsening global food crisis, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there are “credible reports” that Russia is “stealing” Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for profit. .

Blinken said the alleged theft was part of broader Russian actions during its war in Ukraine that affected Ukraine’s ability to export its wheat crop.

The prices of grain, cooking oil, fuel and fertilizer have skyrocketed since the February 24 invasion.

Russia and Ukraine account for almost a third of world wheat supplies, while Russia is also an exporter of fertilizers and Ukraine is an exporter of corn and sunflower oil.

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, stormed out of a UN Security Council meeting on Monday when European Council President Charles Michel accused Moscow of fueling a food crisis.

Nebenzia told Reuters: “I couldn’t stay” because of “the lies that Charles Michel came here to distribute.”

Western countries have also imposed sanctions of unprecedented scope and severity on Russia for its invasion.

On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it had imposed personal sanctions on 61 US officials, including the Treasury and Energy secretaries and top defense and media executives.

The move, he said, was in retaliation for the “steady expansion of US sanctions.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had no comment when asked about the move during a briefing.

Information from Natalia Zinets, Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Pavel Polityuk, Lidia Kelly, and Ronald Popeski; written by Costas Pitas; edited by Cynthia Osterman

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