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On the 100th day after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, violence erupted in the country’s east, as Moscow’s soldiers are tightening their hold on the Donbas.
The sombre moment came as Kyiv revealed that Moscow had taken control of a fifth of Ukrainian land, including Crimea and areas of the Donbas that had been seized in 2014.
President Vladimir Putin’s army have set their eyes on seizing eastern Ukraine after being rebuffed from around the capital, prompting worries that the war might stretch on.
Following talks with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg advised Ukraine’s allies to prepare for a long “war of attrition.”
“All we have to do now is prepare for the long haul,” Stoltenberg said, stressing that NATO does not want a direct confrontation with Russia.
Despite moving at a slower pace than planned, Moscow’s soldiers are making headway; President Volodymyr Zelensky told Luxembourg parliamentarians that Russian forces currently control around 20% of Ukrainian land.
Thousands of people have died and millions have been forced to flee since Russia’s invasion on February 24. According to Zelensky, every day on the battlefield, up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers perish.
In the industrial town of Severodonetsk in Lugansk, part of the Donbas, street fights are occurring.
Russia controls almost 80% of the vital city, but its defenders are fighting back, with Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday saying that Ukrainian soldiers will fight “to the end.”
Russian military attacked Severodonetsk’s Azot factory, one of Europe’s largest chemical factories, firing on one of its administrative buildings and a storage where methanol was stored.
‘Shooting is everywhere around us.’
Gaiday said Ukrainian troops were still holding an industrial zone, similar to the scenario in Mariupol, where a massive steelworks was the last holdout until Ukrainian troops eventually surrendered in late May.
Residents in Sloviansk, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Severodonetsk, reported persistent Russian army bombing.
“It’s incredibly difficult here,” said Ekaterina Perednenko, a 24-year-old paramedic who has only been back in the city for five days but expects to have to leave again.
“It’s frightening to see shooting everywhere. Water, power, and gas are all unavailable “she expressed herself.
Ukrainian military sources claimed late Thursday that Russian shelling in the southern city of Mykolaiv killed at least one person and injured many others.
The commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, asked for modern weapons, adding that “the enemy has a substantial edge in artillery.”
He went on to say, “It will save our people’s lives.”
A financial crunch
Western countries, led by the United States, have sent armaments and military supplies into Ukraine to help it resist the attack.
After presenting her credentials to Zelensky on Thursday, Bridget Brink, the new US ambassador to Kyiv, stated that the US would “help Ukraine win against Russian aggression.”
The US confirmed earlier this week that it would be giving Ukraine more advanced Himar multiple rocket launch systems.
Multiple precision-guided munitions can be fired against targets up to 80 kilometres away at the same time by the mobile units.
They’re part of a $700 million package that includes air surveillance radar, ammunition, helicopters, and vehicles.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, accused the US of “throwing fuel to the fire,” despite the fact that US officials said Ukraine has committed not to use the missiles in Russia.
In addition to delivering weapons to Ukraine, Western allies have tried to cut off Russia’s financial lifeline in an attempt to persuade Putin to alter course.
The US has banned Putin’s money manager as well as a Monaco company that offers luxury yachts to Moscow’s elite, adding to an already long list of embargoes.
Across the Atlantic, EU countries agreed to further restrictions that would ban 90 percent of Russian oil shipments by the end of the year.
The price of oil has dropped.
Russia has warned that European customers will bear the brunt of the partial oil embargo first.
In an effort to cool an overheated market and relieve inflationary pressures, major crude producers agreed to increase supply by around 50% every month.
However, investors were dissatisfied, and prices jumped as a result of the statement.
Because Ukraine is one of the world’s top grain producers, the conflict has the potential to spark a global food crisis.
It was already resulting in higher prices for staples such as grains, sunflower oil, and maize, with the poorest bearing the brunt of the impact.
Senegalese President Macky Sall, the chairman of the African Union, is scheduled to meet with Putin in Russia on Friday.
According to Sall’s office, the visit would focus on “freeing up stocks of cereals and fertilisers, which are severely affected by the blockade in Africa,” as well as resolving the Ukraine issue.
