SLOVIANSK, Ukraine — Fighting raged Saturday
for
Ukraine’s strategic Lysychansk, as Kyiv denied a claim by Moscow-backed
separatists that they had encircled the eastern city.
اضافة اعلان
Clashes have been intense in
Lysychansk, the last
major city in the Lugansk region of the Donbas still in Ukrainian hands,
located across the river from neighboring Severodonetsk seized by Russia last
week.
The city’s capture would allow
Russian forces to
push deeper into the battleground Donbas region, which has become the focus of
their offensive since failing to capture Kyiv after invading in late February.
“Fighting rages around Lysychansk. ... The city has
not been encircled and is under control of the Ukrainian army,” Ruslan
Muzytchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Guard, said on Ukrainian
television.
Earlier in the day, Andrei Marotchko, a spokesman
for the separatist forces, told the TASS news agency: “Lysychansk is completely
encircled.”
The announcements come as missiles continue to rain
down across Ukraine, killing dozens.
Rockets struck residential properties in Solviansk
in the heart of the Donbas, killing a woman in her garden and wounding her
husband, a neighbor told AFP Saturday, describing debris showered across the
neighborhood.
The witness said the strike on Friday was thought to
use cluster munitions which spread over a large area before exploding, striking
buildings and people who were outdoors.
Strikes on a southern resort town earlier Friday
left 21 dead and dozens wounded after missiles slammed into flats and a
recreation center in Sergiyvka, 80km south of
Black Sea port Odessa.
The attacks came after Moscow abandoned positions on
a strategic island in a major setback to the Kremlin’s invasion.
‘Heavy losses’
Ukraine’s chief diplomat
Dmytro Kuleba said Saturday he had discussed a seventh round of European
sanctions against Russia with his EU opposite number Joseph Borrell.
Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov
said Ukraine was “suffering heavy losses on all fronts”, listing what he said
were military targets across the country hit with artillery and missiles.
The strikes follow global outrage earlier this week
when a Russian strike destroyed a shopping center in Kremenchuk, central
Ukraine, killing at least 21 civilians according to the mayor.
President Vladimir Putin has denied his forces were
responsible for that attack and Moscow made no immediate comment on the Odessa
strikes.
Earlier on Friday,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed a new chapter in its relationship with the EU, after Brussels
recently granted Ukraine candidate status in Kyiv’s push to join the 27-member
bloc, even if membership is likely years away.
“Our journey to membership shouldn’t take decades.
We should make it down this road quickly,” Zelensky told Ukraine’s parliament.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der
Leyen said membership was “within reach” but urged them to work on anti-corruption
reforms.
Norway, which is not an EU member, on Friday
announced $1 billion worth of aid for Kyiv including for reconstruction and
weapons.
‘Grains going to dry out’
On Thursday, Russian troops
abandoned their positions on Snake Island, which sits beside shipping lanes
near Odessa’s port.
The Russian defense ministry described the retreat
as “a gesture of goodwill” meant to demonstrate that Moscow will not interfere
with
UN efforts to organize protected grain exports from Ukraine.
But on Friday evening, Kyiv accused Moscow of
carrying out strikes using incendiary phosphorus munitions on the rocky
outcrop.
During a daily update, Russia’s defense ministry
made no comment on the alleged use of phosphorous.
In peacetime, Ukraine is a major agricultural exporter,
but Russia’s invasion has damaged farmland and seen Ukraine’s ports seized,
razed or blockaded — sparking concerns about food shortages, particularly in
poor countries.
Farmer Sergiy Lioubarsky, whose fields are close to
the frontline, 30km west of Lysychansk, warned time was running out to harvest
this year’s crop.
“We can wait until August 10 at the latest, but
after that, the grains are going to dry out and fall to the ground,” he said.
Western powers have accused Putin of using the
trapped harvest as a weapon to increase pressure on the international
community, and Russia has been accused of stealing grain.
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