Ukrainian forces pledge to fight “until the end” in Severodonetsk, but with Russian forces in control of most of the key eastern city, their prospects of success appear slim.
“Street fighting continues,” Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday says on Telegram, estimating 80 per cent of the city is in Russian hands.
Lugansk is one of two regions, along with Donetsk, that make up Ukraine’s industrial heartland Donbas which Russia has vowed to “liberate”.
Once in control of Severodonetsk, Russian forces will likely try cross the Donets river flowing through it to target nearby Donetsk, according to a British defence ministry intelligence note.
Russia controls 20 per cent of Ukraine: Zelenskyy
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia controls about one-fifth of his country, from the ground gained since the February 24 invasion to the annexed Crimean peninsula and territory held by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (AP Photo)
“Today, about 20 per cent of our territory is under the control of the occupiers,” the Ukrainian leader tells EU lawmakers.
Zelenskyy says in 2014, the separatists and the Russian military gained control of 43,000 square kilometres (16,600 square miles) of territory, but says that has increased to nearly 125,000 square kilometres — an area “much greater” than the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg combined.
‘EU oil embargo to hit Europeans’
Russia warns that European consumers will be the first to suffer after Brussels introduced a partial embargo on Russian oil over Ukraine.
“As a result of these decisions, European consumers will suffer above all,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak says, adding there may be a “big deficit” of oil products in the European Union.
On Monday, the EU agreed to a sixth package of sanctions on Moscow that will see the majority of Russian oil stopped, but exempted supplies by pipeline in a concession to Hungary.
AU chief to meet with Putin on food
African Union head, Senegalese President Macky Sall, will meet President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday to discuss food shortages caused by the conflict, which are exacerbating hunger in parts of Africa.
Both Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of wheat and other cereals to Africa, while Russia, which is under export-limiting Western sanctions, is a key producer of fertiliser.
Sall’s office says the visit, proposed by Putin, is aimed at “freeing up stocks of cereals and fertilisers.”
Danes vote to join EU defence policy
Danes vote overwhelmingly in a referendum to join the EU’s common defence policy 30 years after the Nato member opted out.
Almost 67 percent of people in the traditionally eurosceptic country back the move, which comes hot on the heels of neighbouring Finland’s and Sweden’s historic applications for Nato membership.
Sweden ramps up aid
Sweden announces additional aid of one billion kronor ($102 million, 95 million euros) to Ukraine, consisting of both financial aid and military equipment including anti-ship missiles and anti-tank launchers.
People line up outside a Church to get food and clothing in Borodyanka, on the outskirts of Kyiv. (Photo: AP/PTI)
In late February, after the invasion began, Sweden broke its longstanding doctrine of not sending weapons to countries in active conflict.
Last month, Sweden, along with neighbouring Finland, in May overturned decades of military non-alignment by submitting historic joint applications to join Nato.
Hundreds of “mercenaries” killed
Moscow says it has managed to stem the arrival of foreign “mercenaries” in Ukraine over the past month and has killed “hundreds”.
“Hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine have been destroyed by Russia’s long-range precision weapons shortly after their arrival” to undergo training, the Russian defence ministry states.
Putin money man blacklisted
The United States places Russian President Vladimir Putin’s money-manager and a Monaco provider of luxury yachts to Moscow’s elite on its sanctions blacklist.
Washington hit Sergei Roldugin, labelled “Putin’s middle-man,” Roldugin’s opera singer wife Elena Mirtova, and foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova with sanctions, as well as several large yachts in which Putin allegedly has an interest, the US Treasury says.
Russia ready to settle debt disputes
Russia says it is ready to directly settle any disputes with its creditors after missing payments on its foreign debt due to Western sanctions over Ukraine.
Punishing Western sanctions on Russia have largely severed the country from the international financial system, making it difficult for Moscow to service its debt.