Ukraine needs a win over Russia “on the battlefield” before any peace negotiations. This was declared on Tuesday, June 7, by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the British daily Financial Timesduring a marked day by fierce fighting for control of Sievirodonetsk.
Franceinfo takes stock of this new day of war.
Russia claims to gain ground in Sievierodonetsk
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that the Russian military had “totally liberated” the residential areas of Sievierodonetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine and the current epicenter of fighting in the region. He added, during a briefing broadcast on television, that “the takeover of its industrial zone and neighboring localities continues[vai]t”.
This claim has not been confirmed by the Ukrainian side. “They don’t control the city”retorted Tuesday evening in a video message on Telegram the governor of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaïdaï. “All the forces, all the reserves have been mobilized by the enemy, the Russian army, to cut off the main Lysytchansk-Bakhmut road in order to take Severodonetsk. They bombard Lysytchansk very violently”, said the governor. Severodonetsk is, with its neighboring city Lyssytchansk, the last agglomeration still under Ukrainian control in the Lugansk region. Its capture would open the road to Kramatorsk, a large city in the Donetsk region, to the Russians.
Russian general killed
Witness to the intensity of the fighting in the Donbass, the leader of the pro-Russian separatists Denis Pushilin confirmed on Telegram on Tuesday the death of a Russian general, Roman Kutuzov, reported on Sunday by a Russian war correspondent. Several Russian generals have died since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Their exact number is unverifiable, the Russian authorities rarely communicating on their losses.
kyiv refuses IAEA visit to occupied nuclear power plant
The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi tweeted on Monday that his organization was preparing an expert mission to the plant, but the Ukrainian operator Energoatom opposed it on Tuesday as long as kyiv did not wouldn’t have control of it. A visit under Russian control would come to “Legitimize the presence of the occupants”estimated Energoatom on Telegram.
Wheat talks in Turkey
An economic battle is also being played out, that of the wheat resources of the cereal superpower that is Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Turkey on Tuesday evening to discuss the establishment of secure maritime corridors for the export of grain in the Black Sea. Moscow rejects all responsibility for this crisis, which it believes is due solely to Western sanctions.
Lavrov is due to meet his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Cavusoglu, on Wednesday, with whom he will discuss the possibility of Ukraine exporting its crops stuck in its ports. This blockage is causing prices to soar and posing a serious risk of famine in certain African and Middle Eastern countries.