Russian forces pour resources into battle • City of Sievierodonetsk under assault • Ukraine pleads for more weapons from West • EU cannot agree on Russian oil embargo
Russian troops are moving into the city of Sivierodonetsk from the outskirts, Luhansk region governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Monday. He added that two civilians were killed and five were wounded by shelling during the troops’ advance.
“Unfortunately we have disappointing news, the enemy is moving into the city.” Governor Serhiy Gaidai
Ukrinform reports that according to Gaidai, at least 12 houses were destroyed in Sivierodonetsk , 18 in Lysychansk, 10 in Vrubivka as well as a cultural center, three in Zoloty, and two in the Nyrkovo region – in Mykolaivka and Viktorivka.
Russian forces have intensified their attacks with barrages of heavy artillery to capture a key Ukrainian city in the southeastern region of Donbas, whose full takeover Moscow’s top diplomat said was now an “unconditional priority.”
Zelensky visits his soldiers
Ukrainian President Zelensky visited troops in the northeastern Kharkiv region, his office said, Zelensky’s first official appearance outside Kyiv region since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.
Zelensky visited Ukrainian troops on the frontlines in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Sunday, his first trip outside the Kyiv region since the invasion began.
“You risk your lives for us all and for our country,” the president’s office quoted him as telling soldiers as he handed out commendations and gifts.
Fighting
Several explosions were heard in Kharkiv city hours after Zelensky’s visit, a Reuters journalist said.
Russian foreign minister Lavrov is quoted as saying the “liberation” of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region is an “unconditional priority” for Moscow; other territories should decide their future for themselves.
Russian shelling has destroyed all of the critical infrastructures in Sievierodonetsk city, Zelensky said, describing the taking of the city as Russia’s “principal aim” right now.
“Capturing Sievierodonetsk is a fundamental task for the occupiers … We do all we can to hold this advance.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Incessant shelling has left Ukrainian forces defending ruins in Sievierodonetsk, but their refusal to withdraw is stalling a massive Russian offensive across the Donbas. Russian shelling also continued on Sunday across several regions such as in Novy Buh in Mykolaiv (southwest Ukraine, near Kherson) and Sumy (northeast Ukraine, along the border with Russia north of the Donbas region).
The Russian defense ministry said Russian missiles have destroyed a large arsenal of the Ukrainian army in the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, state news agency TASS quoted the ministry as saying.
Russia said it used missile strikes to destroy Ukrainian command posts in Bakhmut and Soledar. Both towns are on an important road running southwest from Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the “liberation” of the Donbas, an industrial region that includes Luhansk and Donetsk, was an “unconditional priority” for Moscow.
Ukrainian forces in the Donbas said they were on the defensive all day on Sunday. Russian forces fired on 46 communities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, killing at least three civilians, wounding two others, or destroying or damaging 62 civilian buildings.
A Ukrainian soldier on patrol in trenches near the town of Bakhmut, southwest of Sievierodonetsk, spoke of a nagging fear that his government could be drawn into negotiating an end to the conflict that would result in Ukraine losing territory.
“You know now what I’m most afraid of, now that the fighting is so intense, so tough? That we would be told: That’s it, stop it, we have a ceasefire.” Dmytro, a former English language teacher and current Ukrainian soldier
“A negotiated settlement can only happen on Ukrainian terms and at present, if it happened it would be horror,” he said, adding that such a move could end Zelensky’s career.
The state of Russia’s military
The UK Defence Ministry published an analysis of Russia’s internal military dynamics on Monday morning:
“Russia has likely suffered devastating losses amongst its mid and junior-ranking officers in the conflict. Brigade and battalion commanders likely deploy forwards into harm’s way because they are held to an uncompromising level of responsibility for their units’ performance. Similarly, junior officers have had to lead the lowest level tactical actions, as the army lacks the cadre of highly trained and empowered non-commissioned officers (NCOs) who fulfill that role in Western forces.
“The loss of a large proportion of the younger generation of professional officers will likely exacerbate its ongoing problems in modernizing its approach to command and control. More immediately, battalion tactical groups (BTGs) which are being reconstituted in Ukraine from survivors of multiple units are likely to be less effective due to a lack of junior leaders.
“With multiple credible reports of localized mutinies amongst Russia’s forces in Ukraine, a lack of experienced and credible platoon and company commanders is likely to result in a further decrease in morale and continued poor discipline.”
Heavy losses
Two civilians were killed and five wounded by shelling as Russian troops entered the outskirts of the Ukrainian city Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Monday.
Gaidai said Russian troops were attacking the city with all weapons and air support, and have entered its southeastern and northeastern areas.
Having failed to take the capital Kyiv in the early phase of the war, Russia is seeking to consolidate its grip on the Donbas, large parts of which are already controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
Military aid to Ukraine
The Ukrainian government urged the West to provide more longer-range weapons to turn the tide in the war, now in its fourth month. Zelensky said he expected “good news” in the coming days.
US officials have said such weapons systems are actively being considered. Canada has asked South Korea to supply it with artillery rounds, Seoul said on Monday, apparently to “backfill” supplies that Ottawa has sent to Ukraine.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington said the Russians had still not managed to encircle Sievierodonetsk and the Ukrainian defenders had inflicted “fearful casualties” on them.
The Ukrainians were taking serious losses themselves, civilians as well as combatants, they said in a briefing paper.
Russia’s focus on Sievierodonetsk had drawn resources from other battlefronts and as a result, they had made little progress elsewhere, the analysts said.
Reuters could not independently verify the battleground accounts.
Diplomacy
European Union leaders will meet on Monday to declare continued support for Ukraine to help it fend off Russia’s assault, but the talks will be overshadowed by their failure to agree on a new sanctions package against Moscow.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said talks last week with Finnish and Swedish delegations were not at the “expected level” and Ankara cannot say yes to “terrorism-supporting” countries entering NATO, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported. Turkey has objected to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance and Erdogan appears to be holding to his position.
Zelensky said in a television interview he believed Russia would agree to talks if Ukraine could recapture all the territory it has lost since the invasion. But he ruled out the idea of using force to win back all the land Ukraine has lost to Russia since 2014.
Germany has agreed to change its constitution to allow for a credit-based special defense fund of 100 billion euros ($107.35 billion) proposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the German finance ministry announced on Sunday. The money is to be used over several years to increase Germany’s regular defense budget of around 50 billion euros, enabling the country to meet a NATO target of spending 2% of economic output on defense annually.
Canada has asked South Korea to supply it with artillery rounds, Seoul said on Monday, apparently to “backfill” supplies that Ottawa has sent to Ukraine, upping pressure on South Korea to provide – at least indirectly – lethal aid in the war.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck expressed fears that EU unity was “starting to crumble” as the bloc’s leaders are set to meet on Monday and Tuesday in a summit to discuss a new sanctions package against Russia including the oil embargo.
Draft conclusions of the meeting, seen by Reuters, showed that while the EU will be generous with verbal support for Kyiv, there will be little progress on any of the main issues.
EU governments have been unable to agree on the sixth package of sanctions against Moscow because a proposed embargo on Russian oil is not acceptable to Hungary and is a big problem for Slovakia and the Czech Republic.