In the war against the Russian invading troops, Ukraine once again emphatically called on the West to continue supplying heavy weapons. Advisers to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specifically named multiple rocket launchers and anti-ship missiles. What happened on the night of May 29 in the Ukraine war happened.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of a policy of terror. “I will always remind the world that Russia must finally be officially recognized as a terrorist state, as a sponsor of terrorism,” Zelenskyy said in a video address. At the beginning of the week he wanted to address the participants of the EU special summit in Brussels and also talk about it.
“About terror, which today has become, in fact, the only form of action of the Russian state against Europe,” said the President. “Terror on the territory of Ukraine. Terror on the energy market in Europe, not only in our country. Terror on the Food market, worldwide. And what kind of terror will come next?” Only together could the Europeans stop the politics of such a state, he emphasized.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich advocated deliveries of Harpoon-type missiles that can be used to attack ships. With this, Ukraine could break through the Russian blockade of the seaports, Arestovich was quoted as saying by the Unian agency.
Ukraine again emphatically contradicted Russia that Western punitive measures against Moscow were the reason for the current lack of food security in the world. “Sanctions against Russia have nothing to do with the emerging global food crisis,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. “The only reason for shortages, rising prices and the threat of hunger is that the Russian military is physically blocking 22 million tons of Ukrainian food exports in our seaports,” Kuleba stressed. The West must bring Russia to an end of the blockade.
Only on Saturday did Russian President Vladimir Putin say in a phone call with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and French President Emmanuel Macron that the “flawed economic and financial policies of Western countries” and the “anti-Russian sanctions” were responsible for the problems. The federal government always points out that there are no sanctions against food. According to the federal government, Scholz and Macron complained about the tense situation on the global food market during the phone call.
According to the authorities, several civilians were killed or wounded in attacks on Ukrainian locations. President Zelenskyy accused Russia of “new terror”. These are “senseless, barbaric attacks” with rockets and mortars. The Ukrainian army said it had repelled Russian attacks. 33 “occupants” were killed and six armored vehicles destroyed. The information is not independently verifiable.
The city of Sievjerodonetsk in the Donbass was particularly hard fought. Russian troops are trying to gain a foothold there, Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov said, according to Unian agency. According to Luhansk Governor Serhiy Hajdaj, the city is still under the Ukrainian flag. He contradicted reports from Russia that Sievjerodonetsk was completely taken.
Meanwhile, after the capture of the port city of Mariupol by Russian troops, Mayor Vadym Boychenko warned of the risk of infectious diseases. The sewage system and garbage disposal no longer worked, and the temperatures rose. “Therefore, our doctors report the danger that may arise this summer: outbreaks of infectious diseases such as dysentery and others,” said Boychenko, who is not in the city himself.
According to their own statements, the Russian military has conquered the strategically important small town of Lyman in the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region. The Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday reported the city’s complete “liberation” by units of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Russian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian general staff also indirectly admitted the fall of the city on Saturday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Germany and France against further arms deliveries to Ukraine. In a telephone conversation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, the Kremlin boss said, according to Russian information, that further arms deliveries were “dangerous”. As a result, there is a risk that “the situation in Ukraine will continue to destabilize and the humanitarian crisis will worsen”.
He has also promised to allow grain exports from Ukraine if Western sanctions against his country are eased. Russia is “ready” to find opportunities “for grain exports without obstacles,” Putin said in a phone call with Scholz and Macron on Saturday, according to the Kremlin. However, Western sanctions against Russia would also have to be lifted.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in a telephone call on Saturday that he would seek solutions with Western partners to counter the Russian ban on grain exports from Ukraine and thus avert a global famine. Johnson and Zelenskyy agree that Russia must give up this blockade and ensure safe shipping routes, Downing Street officials said.
Ukraine has asked the West to supply advanced long-range multiple rocket launchers to fight against Russia. “If the West really wants Ukraine to win, maybe it’s time to give us MLRS?” Advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Mykhailo Podoliak tweeted on Saturday. MLRS are US-made artillery systems.
“It’s hard to fight when you’re attacked from a distance of 70 kilometers and you don’t have anything to defend yourself with,” Podoliak said. Ukraine could bring Russia “back behind the Iron Curtain”. “But for that we need effective weapons . Here and now.”
military situation
Ukraine blamed Russia for the deaths of five civilians in the government-held part of the Donetsk region in the east of the country. “Today Russians killed five citizens of Donbass and wounded four others,” wrote the governor of the region, Pavlo Kirilenko, on the Telegram news channel.
In addition, Ukrainian media reported attacks in the Kharkiv area. The governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajday, spoke of a difficult situation in the embattled city of Sieverodonetsk. You have enough resources to hold the defense. However, it could be that the Ukrainian military will withdraw for tactical reasons.
Read here what new attack strategy Russia is using in the Donbass: Territorial gains in the Donbass – military experts dissect Russian strategy change: “No breakthrough so far”
Political Developments
Zelenskyj described the situation in the Donbass as very difficult in view of the Russian attacks. Moscow is using a maximum of artillery and reserves there, Zelenskyj said in a video speech. The Ukrainian army is defending the country with all currently available resources. “We are doing everything to strengthen the army,” assured the President. As far as the currently fiercely contested locations in the Donbass are concerned, Zelenskyj was combative. “If the occupiers think that Lyman and Sieverodonetsk will be theirs, they are mistaken. Donbass will be Ukrainian.” If Russia brings destruction and suffering, Ukraine will restore any place. Only the Ukrainian flag will fly there – and no other, Zelenskyj emphasized.
Russia is expecting additional income of the equivalent of 13.7 billion euros this year from the export of fossil fuels. “We expect up to a trillion rubles more in oil and gas revenues,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on state television on Friday, referring to the latest forecast by the Ministry of Economic Development. Part of the additional income could be used to continue the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
The government wants to spend the extra revenue this year rather than set it aside, he said. The money should be spent on “additional payments” for pensioners and families with children and for the “special operation” in Ukraine, the finance minister said, citing Russia’s offensive in pro-western Ukraine.
The Ukrainian state-owned company Naftogaz and the state network operator are appealing to Germany to stop Russian gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline or at least to curb them noticeably. The line through the Baltic Sea was allowed, among other things, to secure Europe’s gas supply, said CEO Serhij Makohon on Ukrainian television. “But we see that Russia is completely violating these principles.” He is therefore calling on the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Network Agency to suspend deliveries or at least severely limit them.
Because of the Russian war of aggression, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate declared its “complete autonomy and independence” from Moscow. The church in Kyiv said it disagreed with the position of Moscow Patriarch Kirill. Condemn the war and appeal to Ukraine and Russia to continue the negotiation process.
Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, stands firmly behind Russian President Vladimir Putin. Most recently, the pressure within the Church in Ukraine to break away from Moscow had increased. Priests had even called for a church tribunal against Kirill. In terms of number of congregations, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is the largest of the three mainstream churches in Ukraine.
Kremlin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky is urging the West to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons. “If the Ukrainians are not supplied with the weapons they are requesting, there will soon be fighting around Kyiv again,” the 58-year-old told the “Bild” (Saturday). He thinks Western politicians are most afraid of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “They think they are not in a war. Because of this, they also believe that supplying certain weapons could lead to an escalation or turn them into a war party. Khodorkovsky called this a “very stupid attitude” because, from Putin’s point of view, Western politicians and countries are already at war with Russia.
Read more updates from the Ukraine war here.
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