As Russia lays siege to Severodonetsk, Ukraine's Zelenski appeals for arms
As Russia lays siege to Severodonetsk, Ukraine's Zelenski appeals for arms
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As Russian soldiers lay siege to the eastern city of Severodonetsk, destroying the final bridges into the industrial powerhouse, Ukraine’s president has made an emotional plea to Western allies to expedite military supply and help prevent “terrifying” losses.

For weeks, the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk have been targeted as the final areas in Lugansk’s eastern Donbas region that remain under Ukrainian control.

The human cost of the war for the region, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, was “absolutely horrific” on Monday.

Zelensky voiced confidence in Ukraine’s ability to regain land and urged the country’s partners to supply additional weapons.

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All we need are enough weapons to ensure this. They are with our partners.”

Presidential advisor Mikhaylo Podolyak announced on Monday that the Ukrainian army requires hundreds of howitzers, tanks, and armoured vehicles.

“To be clear, heavy weapons are required to end the fight,” he tweeted.

Severodonetsk is under attack.

After a weeks-long Russian attack, regional governor Sergiy Gaiday claimed Monday that Ukrainian soldiers had been pushed back from Severodonetsk’s centre.

“They destroyed all of the bridges, making access to the city impossible. It is also impossible to evacuate “He told RFE/RL.

He claimed that Russian forces control 70 to 80 percent of the city but have not yet conquered or surrounded it.

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Ukraine’s defence minister warned last week that up to 100 of his troops were dying every day and 500 were injured. Zelensky had predicted that 60-100 Ukrainian soldiers died every day.

With the screws tightening on the Lugansk region, Ukrainian forces are faced with two options: “surrender or perish,” according to Eduard Basurin, a representative for pro-Russian separatists.

Crimes against humanity’

Amnesty International accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine on Monday, claiming that attacks on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, many of which employed prohibited cluster bombs, had killed hundreds of civilians.

“The repeated bombardments of Kharkiv’s residential neighbourhoods are indiscriminate strikes that killed and maimed hundreds of civilians, and thus constitute war crimes,” the rights group stated in a report on Ukraine’s second-largest city.

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Police said they discovered seven more victims in a grave in Bucha, a village near Kyiv that has become synonymous with war crimes charges.

“Several victims had their wrists tied and knees shackled,” Kyiv regional police commander Andriy Nebytov stated on Facebook.

Dozens more dead in civilian dress were discovered in the town in April, as Russian troops withdrew from the area after a month-long occupation.

‘They bomb and they bomb.’

Authorities say Russian missile strikes damaged the village of Pryluky in northern Ukraine on Monday.

Pryluky, about 150 kilometres (93 miles) east of the capital, is home to a military airfield.

Separatist authorities in Donetsk stated three persons were killed and four were injured by Ukrainian bombardment on a market.

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After months of bombardment, the neighbouring city of Lysychansk has been severely destroyed, with no water, electricity, or phone signal.

Ukrainian artillery fires on Russian forces struggling for control of Severodonetsk, right across the river.

Maksym Katerin of Lysychansk buried his mother and stepfather in his garden Monday after a shell smashed through his yard and killed them instantaneously.

“I don’t know who did this, but if I knew, I’d rip their arms off,” Katerin remarked.

Yevgeniya Panicheva, Katerin’s neighbour, cried, stating Katerin’s mother had died “Her stomach was ripped open and her guts were spilling out. She was a wonderful, friendly, and helpful woman. What were they thinking when they did this to her?”

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They continue to bomb, and we have no idea what to do.”

A six-year-old kid was also killed in the city on Sunday, according to authorities.

Harvesting has been postponed.

Members of the World Trade Organization assembled in Geneva, far from the war, to discuss the threat to world food security posed by Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine’s deputy agricultural minister said on Monday that a fourth of his country’s arable land had been lost, but that national food security was not jeopardised.

The harvest has been postponed on a farm near the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv due to the necessity to repair damage caused by Russian forces who passed through the area in March.

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“We planted pretty late since we needed to remove everything first,” Nadiia Ivanova, 42, told AFP.

The farm’s warehouses currently hold 2,000 tonnes of grain from the previous season, but there are no buyers.