The Russian army continued to advance on Wednesday May 26 in eastern Ukraine. The fighting is concentrated in the city of Sivierodonetsk, in the Luhansk region, where kyiv concedes an “extremely difficult” situation.
Sievierodonetsk or the shadow of Mariupol
Nestled in the western part of the Luhansk region, the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk is almost besieged by the Russian army. The city is “simply being destroyed”, wrote Serhi Haïdaï, governor of the oblast, on Telegram. He accused the Russian army of bombarding the city using multiple rocket launchers, imprecise and devastating weapons. According to him, the bombs are also targeting the Azot factory where civilians are taking refuge, in a situation reminiscent of the siege of Mariupol.
Governor believes Luhansk region is already under control “more than 90%” by the Russians. Oleksandr Striuk, leader of the Sievierodonetsk military unit, told the media Kyiv Independent that despite constant Russian attacks, the city remained accessible by the Ukrainian army.
Moscow facilitates the granting of Russian passports to residents of southern Ukraine
Russia to allow residents of Zaporizhia and Kherson regions in southern Ukraine to apply for Russian passports via “a simplified procedure”according to a presidential decree issued on Wednesday. “This simplified system will make it clear to everyone that Russia is not here for long, but forever”reacted Kirill Stremoussov, an official of the Kherson region appointed by Moscow, quoted by the Ria Novosti agency. “This will speed up our integration and our return home to Russia”added Vladimir Rogov, a pro-Russian official of the part of the Zaporizhia region controlled by the Russian army.
The presidential decree in question also applies to the inhabitants of the separatist territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, whose respective armies participate with Moscow in the fighting against Ukraine. Several hundred thousand inhabitants of these separatist territories have already received Russian passports.
The United States denounced an attempt to“subdue” the population now under his control. This plan is “a Russian tactic to subjugate the Ukrainian people, to impose their will by force”State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a press briefing, adding that the United States “would forcefully reject” such a project.
In Davos, Ukraine calls for more heavy weapons
Ukraine badly needs mobile units capable of sending several rockets simultaneously, to have equal weapons in the face of Russia’s firepower, its Ukrainian foreign minister insisted on Wednesday in Davos. “The battle for Donbass is very similar to the battles of the Second World War”, Dmytro Kuleba told reporters after a series of talks in Davos with government officials and business leaders. He explained that “some villages and towns no longer exist” in this region of Ukraine, which has come under heavy bombardment in recent days. “They were reduced to rubble by Russian artillery fire, by Russian multiple rocket launchers. »
Russia is better equipped than Ukraine for a number of heavy weapons, but Kuleba said the biggest imbalance is in launchers capable of firing multiple rockets simultaneously. kyiv asked Washington for some, and it is “really the weapon that we badly need”assured the Minister. “Countries that are dragging their feet on supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine, they need to understand that in every day they spend deciding and weighing different arguments, people are being killed”he pointed out.
Ukrainian war wounded treated in France
kyiv thanked France for hosting “Ukrainian war wounded in its hospitals, and in particular in army hospitals”, according to a press release published Wednesday evening by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. During a telephone exchange with his new French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu, the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Oleksiy Reznikov, “thanked France for the care it provides to Ukrainian war wounded”, according to this press release. The first two Ukrainian soldiers were received at the Percy military hospital, in the Paris region, the French minister’s office told Agence France-Presse.