Intense street fighting continues in Severodonetsk, a strategic city in eastern Ukraine on which control of the entire Donbass region depends. “Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, and other towns in Donbass, which the occupiers now see as their targets, hold their ground“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday evening. He also called on his allies, including France, to provide his troops with heavy weapons, capable of hitting long distances, in order to repel the invader.
Taking Severodonetsk would open up Moscow’s route to another major Donbass city, Kramatorsk, an important step to conquering the entire Russian border region, partly held by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
On the diplomatic front, officially, China continues to turn a deaf ear to calls from Ukraine who would like the Asian giant to intercede with Russia so that it ceases its aggression. But the first tensions appeared between Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the first accusing the second of playing a double game and not helping him, neither militarily nor financially.
A Vladimir Putin who, during the tribute paid yesterday Thursday to Tsar Peter the Great, on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the latter’s birth, established a parallel between the Tsar and… himself. Surreal, but maybe not as much as the video of the Ukrainian soldier who listens to the music of Apocalypse Now in the trenches between two rocket attacks.
Follow the unfolding in live events below:
