Ukraine says Russian attacks on Donbas are intensifying

KYIV/SLATYNE, Ukraine, May 20 (Reuters) – Russian forces have intensified their offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region using artillery, rocket launchers and aircraft to damage defenses around Donetsk, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Friday.

“The Russian enemy carried out a massive artillery barrage against civilian infrastructure, including multiple rocket launchers,” it said in a statement.

Russian shelling in Luhansk, also in Donbas, has killed 13 civilians in the past 24 hours, regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said.

Twelve were killed in the town of Sievierodonesk, where a Russian assault was unsuccessful, he said.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said 232 children had been killed and 427 injured since the start of the Russian invasion.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports and Russia denies targeting civilians.

The industrial region of Donbas, the focus of recent Russian offensives, has been destroyed, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as some of the world’s richest countries pledged billions of dollars to bolster Kyiv.

Since moving away from Ukraine’s capital, Russia is using artillery and massive armored vehicles to try to capture more territory in the Donbas, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, which Moscow claims on behalf of the separatists.

“The occupants are trying to exert even more pressure. It’s hell there, and that’s not an exaggeration,” Zelenskiy said in a speech Thursday night. There were also “constant strikes” in the Odessa region in the south, he said.

“The Donbas is completely destroyed,” he said.

Moscow calls its invasion a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of fascists, a claim kyiv and its Western allies say is an unfounded pretext for an unprovoked war.

Russia is likely to beef up its operations in the Donbas region once it secures the southern port city of Mariupol, the scene of a weeks-long siege, British military intelligence said.

As the invasion nears the three-month mark, the US Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved nearly $40 billion in new aid for Ukraine, by far the largest US aid package yet. till the date.

The Group of Seven rich countries also agreed to provide Ukraine with $18.4 billion. Ukraine said the money would hasten victory over Russia and was as important as “the weapons it provides.”

The White House is working to put advanced anti-ship missiles in the hands of Ukrainian fighters to help defeat Russia’s naval blockade, officials said. read more

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of weaponizing food by holding supplies “hostage” not only for Ukrainians, but for millions of people around the world. read more

The war has caused world prices for grain, cooking oil, fuel and fertilizer to soar.

The EU said it is looking for ways to use the frozen assets of Russian oligarchs to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction, while the United States has not ruled out the possibility of imposing sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil.

NATO DIVISION

But divisions within NATO have also been on display, with Turkey opposing Sweden and Finland joining the alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a move that would reverse generations of military nonalignment.

Ankara accuses the two Nordic states of harboring Kurdish militants, but US President Joe Biden and European leaders said they were confident Turkey’s concerns could be addressed. read more

Last week, Russia secured its biggest victory since the invasion began, with kyiv announcing that it had ordered its garrison at a steel mill in Mariupol to withdraw, after a prolonged siege.

British military intelligence said as many as 1,700 soldiers are likely to have surrendered at the Azovstal steelworks, matching a similar number released by Moscow on Thursday.

Ukrainian officials, who have sought a prisoner swap, declined to comment on the number, saying it could jeopardize rescue efforts.

On Thursday night, Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy chief of the Azov Regiment defending the steel mill, posted an 18-second video in which he said that he and other commanders were still on the plant’s territory.

“There is a certain operation going on, the details of which I will not disclose,” he said.

The Switzerland-based International Committee of the Red Cross said it has registered hundreds of prisoners at the plant now in Russian hands, but has not given a precise number.

The leader of the Russian-backed separatists who control the area said almost half of the fighters remained inside the steelworks.

The injured received medical treatment, while those who were healthy were taken to a penal colony and were being treated well, he said.

Reporting from Natalia Zinets and Max Hunder in kyiv and a Reuters journalist in Mariupol; Additional reporting from Reuters bureaus; Written by Richard Pullin and Stephen Coates; Edited by Angus MacSwan

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