Russian forces shelled Kharkiv and killed nine people on Thursday after Moscow’s attempt to conquer Ukraine’s second city was rejected early in the war. Further south, fighting in the Donbas region reached “maximum intensity,” according to a senior Ukrainian defense official. Read about today’s events as they developed on our live blog. All times are Paris time (GMT + 2).
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01:51: Ukrainian railways rush to evacuate west from war-torn Donbas
From the beginning of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s national railways have been crucial to the evacuation of refugees from the hardest hit regions. That effort continues today as the war intensifies in the southeastern part of the country, with employees trained in first aid to better serve the wounded and vulnerable. FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg, David Gormezano and Nataliia Paruboch report.
May 27, 00:48: Zelensky accuses Russia of “genocide” in the Donbas region
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday accused Russia of pursuing “an obvious genocidal policy” in his country’s eastern Donbas region.
Moscow’s offensive in the Donbas could end with the region being left “uninhabited,” he said, accusing the Russians of wanting to ash its cities.
“All of this, including the expulsion of our people and the massacre of civilians, is an obvious policy of genocide pursued by Russia,” he said in his magazine. TV address every night.
23:10: No talks on relaxing sanctions against Russia to get grain exports, says the White House
The White House said on Thursday that there were no talks about easing sanctions against Russia to get grain exports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday discussed ways to help alleviate the international food crisis, with the Kremlin saying this could only be done if the West lifted sanctions.
22:25: Death toll in Kharkiv rises: regional governor
The death toll from Russian shelling in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, has risen from four to nine, according to local officials.
“Russian shelling in Kharkiv today killed nine civilians,” Regional Governor Oleg Sinegubov said on social media.
A five-month-old child and her father were among the dead, while her mother was seriously injured, he added.
“Nineteen civilians were injured,” he said.
21:22: Ukraine’s top diplomat asks for more missile systems
The military situation in eastern Ukraine is even worse than people say it is and the country needs heavy weapons now to effectively fight Russia, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
During a question and answer session over Twitter, Kuleba said that “without several rocket systems, we will not be able to push them back”.
He said that if Russia requested a ceasefire, “we will think twice, three times before agreeing to it”.
18:03: Mariupol’s port is mined, open to civilian ships, says Russia
Civilian ships may use the port of the Sea of โโAzov Mariupol in Ukraine because the danger from mines has been eliminated, the Russian Ministry of Defense has announced.
It said a maritime humanitarian corridor opened on Wednesday in the Azov Sea.
Russia took full control of Mariupol last week when more than 2,400 Ukrainian warriors surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steelworks.
17:10: Cleans up Azovstal after Ukrainian capitulation
After a Russian siege that lasted for more than two months, Azovstal’s steelworks in Mariupol is today completely destroyed. Russian state television has broadcast images of pro-Russian separatist forces clearing mines and combing through the sprawling complex after Ukrainian defenders surrendered at the behest of their superiors.
The Ukrainian soldiers are now prisoners of war in Russia. Officials hope they can be released in a prisoner exchange between the two countries.
16:54: Lukashenko orders new military command for southern Belarus
Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko has ordered the creation of a new military command for the southern part of the country, which borders Ukraine, according to a video release.
Belarus was planning to deploy special operations troops in three areas near its southern border with Ukraine when Lukashenko spoke about the role of Russian-made missiles in strengthening the country’s defense.
16:10: Putin says the West will fail to isolate Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin says the West will fail in its efforts to isolate Russia and face growing economic problems.
Putin spoke via video link to members of the Eurasian Economic Forum and said that Russia will not suspend itself from international cooperation. The forum includes several former Soviet nations.
Putin said trying to isolate Russia was “impossible, completely unrealistic in the modern world” and “those who try to do so are primarily harming themselves.”
15:48: ‘Scary scenes in the Kharkiv region after Russian withdrawal
FRANCE 24’s Cyril Payen reports from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and describes “scary scenes” even after Russian forces withdrew from the northeastern area to focus on the Donbas attack further south.
“The whole area” is mined, says Payen, with the landscape full of burnt-out Russian trucks. But the worst has been the testimony of “barbarism” during the Russian occupation, he added.
14:41: Four civilians killed in Kharkiv: governor
At least four civilians were killed and several others injured in a Russian shelling of the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, according to the regional governor.
“The occupiers are shelling the regional center again,” Kharkiv governor Oleh Synehubov told the Telegram messaging app. “According to preliminary information, seven people were injured. Unfortunately, four were killed.”
Synehubov urged residents to go to shelters during the bombings.
14:21: War in the Donbas with “maximum intensity”: Ukraine
The fighting in the eastern Donbas region has reached its fiercest level to date, said Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar.
“The fighting has reached its maximum intensity,” Malyar told a news conference, warning that an “extremely difficult” and “long” period of fighting awaited.
12:19: The Kremlin says Moscow expects Kyiv to meet its demands
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Moscow expected Kyiv to meet its demands, adding that Ukraine must be aware of the situation in order for peace talks to take place.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to comments from former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who this week proposed at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Ukraine allow Russia to keep Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Moscow demands, among other things, that Ukraine recognize Crimea as Russian territory and recognize breakaway Russian-backed parts of eastern Ukraine as independent states. Ukraine absolutely does not agree with Russia’s claims.
11:45: Scholz says Putin will not be allowed to dictate peace
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be allowed to dictate peace in a war he “will not win” in Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday. Putin has “already failed in all his strategic goals,” the German leader told the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Russia’s plan to conquer all of Ukraine is “further away today than it was at the beginning” of its invasion on February 24, when Ukraine lined up an impressive defense.
Putin “underestimated” the Allies’ “determination and strength” in countering his aggression in Ukraine, Scholz said, noting that Moscow has also now driven Finland and Sweden to join NATO’s defense alliance.
10:39: Fierce fighting is raging on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk
The fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces has reached the borders of the important city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, the regional governor said on Wednesday, describing the battle as “very difficult”. FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg reports from Kyiv:
08:38: 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war are being held in Luhansk and Donetsk, the report said
Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk number about 8,000, Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik was quoted as saying by TASS news agency on Thursday.
“There are many prisoners. Of course there are more of them in the territory of the People’s Republic of Donetsk, but we also have enough, and now the total number somewhere in the area is 8,000. That is a lot, and literally hundreds are added every day,” said Miroshnik.
08:07: Ukraine says Russian forces are shelling 40 cities in the Donbas region
Russian forces are shelling more than 40 cities in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the Ukrainian military said, threatening to shut down the last major evacuation route for civilians trapped in the path of their invasion, now in its fourth month.
After failing to conquer the Ukrainian capital Kyiv or its second city, Kharkiv, Russia is trying to take full control of the Donbas, which consists of two eastern provinces, Moscow claims on behalf of separatists.
Russia has fired thousands of troops into the region and attacked from three sides in an attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces holding out in the city of Sievierodonetsk and its twin Lysychansk. Their case would leave the entire Luhansk province under Russian control, an important war target in the Kremlin.
05:30: G7 faces challenges to keep climate change goals on track amid rising fuel prices due to war in Ukraine
Ministers from the world’s richest democracies will quarrel over how to keep climate change goals on track when they meet in Berlin on Thursday for talks overshadowed by rising energy costs and concerns over the fuel supply triggered by the war in Ukraine.
Minister of Energy, Climate and Environment from Group of seven (G7) countries want to reaffirm a commitment to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and protect biodiversity at the May 25-27 meeting.
The group will also consider committing to a phasing out of coal power production by 2030, according to a draft communiquรฉ from Reuters, although sources suggested that opposition from the US and Japan could be traced from such a promise.
The draft, which could change significantly when talks end on Friday, would also oblige the G7 countries to have a “net-zero electricity sector by 2035” and to start reporting publicly next year on how they deliver on a previous G7 commitment to cease “inefficiency. “subsidies for fossil fuels until 2025.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked a struggle among some countries to buy more non-Russian fossil fuels and burn coal to reduce their dependence on Russian supplies, raising fears that the energy crisis triggered by the war could undermine efforts to combat climate change.
12:57: Ukraine rebukes Western proposals for concessions to end war
The angry comments of Zelenskij comes when Ukrainian troops face a renewed offensive in two eastern regions that Russian-speaking separatists took part in in 2014.
New York Times editorial office said on May 19th that a negotiated peace may require Kyiv to make some difficult decisions, given that a decisive military victory was not realistic.
And former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger suggested this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Ukraine allow Russia to keep Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
“Whatever the Russian state does, you will always find someone who says ‘Let us take into account its interests,’” Zelensky said in a statement. video address late at night.
“You get the impression that Mr Kissinger does not have 2022 on his calendar, but 1938, and that he thinks he is talking to an audience not in Davos but in Munich then.”
In 1938, Britain, France, Italy and Germany sighed a pact in Munich that gave Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler land in what was then Czechoslovakia as part of a failed attempt to persuade him to abandon further territorial expansion.
“Maybe the New York Times also wrote something similar in 1938. But let me remind you that it is now 2022,” Zelensky said.
“Those who advise Ukraine to give something to Russia, these ‘great geopolitical figures’, never see ordinary people, ordinary Ukrainians, millions living in the territory they propose to trade for an illusory peace.”
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
Originally published on France24
Source: sn.dk