Zelenskyy says stalemate with Russia ‘not an option’

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  • Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells a UK newspaper that a standoff with Russia is “not an option.”
  • Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claims that 97 percent of the Luhansk region, one of the two provinces that make up Ukraine’s Donbas, is under Russian control.
  • Shoigu adds that the Russian forces have completely “liberated” the residential neighborhoods of Severodonetsk.
  • A Ukrainian official says some 600 Ukrainians are being held captive and tortured in the Russian-occupied southern region of Kherson.
  • More than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered in the city of Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for investigation, the state-run Tass news agency quoted a Russian police source as saying.
INTERACTIVE Russia Ukraine War Who Controls What in Ukraine Day 104
(Al Jazeera)

Al Jazeera’s latest updates on the war in Ukraine:

Satellite images show destruction in Severodonetsk and Rubizhne

Satellite images from Maxar Technologies collected on Monday show significant damage and destruction in the city of Severodonetsk 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 that, Russia seemed on the verge of encircling the Ukrainian garrison in Luhansk, attempting to cut off the main road to Severodonetsk and its twin city, Lysychansk.

Next winter will be the hardest since independence: Zelenskyy

The upcoming winter in Ukraine will be “the most difficult” since the country gained independence in 1991, Zelenskyy said, adding that Kyiv was setting up a headquarters to centralize the operation of the upcoming heating season.

The decision was made at a meeting the president held with government officials and representatives of Ukraine’s state energy companies and regulators, Zelenskyy said in his late-night address.

“Whatever the plan of the occupiers for themselves, we must prepare for the coming winter… In the current situation due to Russia’s aggression, this will indeed be the most difficult winter of all the years of independence,” he said, adding that at the meeting, Officials discussed the purchase of gas and coal.

“At this time, we will not sell our gas and coal abroad. All national production will be directed to the internal needs of our citizens, ”he added. He also said that the ministers were working on repairing thermal power plants, combined heat and power plants and boiler rooms that were damaged in the war.

Russia uses information as a ‘weapon of war’: Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told an online summit on digital democracy that Russia was using information as a weapon of war.

In a chat with Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, Blinken said she believed the democratization of information was a good thing, but that technology had also enabled abuse and the spread of misinformation in ways that no one had fully anticipated.

“So we see authoritarian governments using this. We see it, for example, right now in the Russian aggression against Ukraine. We saw it in 2014 when Russia initially attacked Ukraine and was using information as a weapon of war,” he said.

“So, in that particular case and in this case, we’ve actually reversed this on them precisely by using information, real information, to point to what we saw them preparing for and working toward,” he added.

Zelenskyy says Russians had a no-gain day

Zelenskyy says Russian forces have made no significant gains in the eastern Donbas region over the past day, despite the Russian defense minister saying Moscow forces now control 90 percent of the Luhansk region.

In his late-night video address, Zelenskyy said that “the absolutely heroic defense of the Donbas continues.”

He said the Russians clearly did not expect to encounter such resistance and are now trying to bring in additional troops and equipment. He said the same was true of the southern Kherson region, which Russian troops occupied earlier in the war.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine planned to publish a special “Executioners’ Book” next week with confirmed information about war crimes committed by the Russian army. He said those named would include not only those who committed war crimes, but also their commanders.

More than 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners sent to Russia for investigation: Tass

More than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered in the city of Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for investigation, state news agency Tass quoted a Russian police source as saying.

Later, more Ukrainian prisoners will be transferred to Russia, the source told Tass. Ukraine has said it is working to get all the prisoners returned, while some Russian lawmakers say they should be put on trial.

Yellen says it’s ‘impossible’ to insulate the US from oil market shocks

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said it is “virtually impossible” for the US to insulate itself from oil market shocks such as those caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so it is important to shift to sources of renewable energy.

Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee that US oil producers did not anticipate the recovery in demand and prices following the COVID-19 pandemic, but now have incentives to increase production.

World Bank Board Approves $1.49 Billion in New Funds for Ukraine

The World Bank has said its executive board has approved $1.49 billion of additional financing for Ukraine to help pay government and social worker salaries, expanding the bank’s total pledged support for Kyiv to more than $4 billion.

The World Bank said in a statement that the latest round of financing for Ukraine is backed by financing guarantees from the UK, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Latvia. The project is also being supported by matching funding from Italy and contributions from a new Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

‘I don’t blame myself’ for not trying hard enough for Ukraine: Merkel

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she tried very hard while in office to prevent the situation in Ukraine from developing to its current state, adding that she does not blame herself for not trying hard enough.

“It’s a great sadness that it didn’t work out, but I don’t blame myself for not trying,” Merkel said, speaking of the 2014 Minsk agreement with Russia. She spoke in an interview with German journalist and author Alexander Osang televised by the ARD broadcaster.

Merkel said there was no justification for Russia’s “brutal disregard of international law” in Ukraine, adding that she had been against a plan to allow Ukraine to join NATO because she wanted to avoid escalation with Russia and Ukraine did not. she was ready for such membership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speak in Minsk, Belarus, on February 11, 2015. [Mykola Lazarenko/Pool Photo via AP]

Russia returns bodies of 210 Ukrainian fighters to Kyiv: military

Russia handed over to Kyiv the bodies of 210 Ukrainian fighters, most of whom died defending the city of Mariupol from Russian forces at a large steel mill, the Ukrainian military said.

“The process of returning the bodies of the fallen defenders of Mariupol is underway. To date, 210 of our troops have been returned, most of them are heroic defenders of Azovstal,” Ukraine’s defense intelligence directorate said on Twitter.

Stalemate with Russia ‘not an option’: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy told Britain’s Financial Times newspaper that a standoff with Russia is “not an option.”

“Victory must be achieved on the battlefield,” he said as he repeated his call for Western military support.

“We are inferior in terms of equipment and therefore we are not able to advance,” he told the newspaper. “We are going to suffer more losses and people are my priority.”

Zelenskyy said that restoring the borders that Ukraine controlled before Russia’s invasion on February 24 would be “a serious temporary victory.”

But he said the ultimate goal was the “total vacancy of all our territory.”

Ukrainian Forces Finding it Difficult to Hold Severodonestk Center: Governor

Ukrainian forces find it difficult to prevent Russian attacks in the center of Severodonestk, but Moscow forces do not control the city, the governor of the Lugansk region said.

In an online post, Serhiy Haidai also said that Russian troops were constantly shelling Severodonetsk’s twin city of Lysychansk, which is located across the Siverskyi Donets River.

Smoke and dirt rise from the city of Severodonetsk, during shelling in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Smoke and dirt rise from the city of Severodonetsk during shelling in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. [File: Aris Messinis/AFP]

Lavrov in Turkey for talks on grain exports from Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Ankara for a two-day visit to Turkey to discuss the unblocking of Ukraine’s grain exports.

This is Lavrov’s second trip to Turkey after meeting his Turkish and Ukrainian counterparts Mevlut Cavusoglu and Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya on March 10.

Welcome to Al Jazeera’s ongoing coverage of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Read all the updates for Tuesday June 7th here.




Reference-www.aljazeera.com

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