(CNN Spanish) — Russia does not stop with its attacks on Ukraine, particularly in the east of the country, in the Severodonetsk region, the city that at this time is under constant bombardment. In this context, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that “the most difficult winter” is coming for his country.
See below the most important news of the war that keeps the world in suspense.
Zelensky warns of “harder winter” ahead
The coming winter will be very difficult for Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned during his late-night speech on Tuesday.
“In the current situation, due to Russia’s aggression, this will indeed be the most difficult winter of all the years of independence,” he said.
Zelensky said he had discussed in a meeting with government officials and representatives of the largest state energy companies “the creation of a headquarters to prepare for the next heating season.”
He said there are “issues of purchasing a sufficient quantity of gas for the heating season, coal accumulation and electricity production.”
“At this time, we will not sell our gas and coal abroad. All domestic production will go to the domestic needs of our citizens,” he added.
Zelensky said that in light of “Ukraine’s historic accession to the unified energy network of Europe” it will be possible to reduce Russian energy consumption by neighboring countries and increase Ukraine’s “foreign exchange earnings”.
The president also said that he planned to repair the thermal and electrical plants damaged or destroyed by the Russian attacks. “The implementation of this program in the coming months is one of the main tasks of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine,” he said.
Lavrov assures that Russia’s intentions are “clear” after confronting a Ukrainian journalist
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia’s intentions and goals in Ukraine are “clear” and maintained that Moscow is not stopping grain exports from Ukraine.
During a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, a Ukrainian journalist asked Lavrov: “Apart from grain products, what [más] Has Russia stolen from Ukraine?
He replied that “with regard to cereals, there is no obstacle or challenge caused by the Russian Federation.”
“Mr. Zelensky has to give an instruction to make Ukrainian ports safe,” Lavrov said, reiterating his earlier comments that Ukraine has to demine its waters to ensure the safe passage of ships.
Lavrov said that “we are not to blame” for creating a problem and that “the ball is in his court [de Ucrania]”.
The Russian Foreign Minister said that Russia is discussing with the Turkish military the possibility of ensuring the safe passage of ships.
Lavrov said Russia has “clear intentions and goals” in Ukraine, which he says are to “liberate” the country from a “neo-Nazi regime,” once again repeating a false Kremlin claim about Ukraine’s government.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine responded to Lavrov’s statements.
“Lavrov’s words are empty,” said Oleg Nikolenko via Twitteralong with photos of newspaper headlines summarizing Lavrov’s remarks.
“Ukraine has made its position on the seaports clear: military equipment is needed to protect the coast and a navy mission to patrol the export routes in the Black Sea. Russia cannot be allowed to use the grain corridors to attack southern Ukraine,” Nikolenko said.
Ukraine could withdraw “to more fortified positions” in Severodonetsk, official says
Ukraine could withdraw its military “to more fortified positions” in Severodonetsk, a regional leader suggested on Wednesday, while insisting the country will not “hand over” the key city.
“Fierce battles are being fought in Severodonetsk,” Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, said on national television Wednesday morning. “Our defenders are fighting for every inch of the city.”
“No one is going to give up the city, even if our military has to withdraw to more fortified positions, as the city is constantly being bombarded. Still, that would not mean that the city has surrendered,” he added.
A leader of Russia’s so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, Rodion Miroshnik, said Wednesday that Ukraine has control of “only a small part” of the Azot chemical factory in Severodonetsk. Hayday said last week that some 800 civilians are sheltering under the facility.
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows destroyed buildings in Rubizhne, Ukraine, near Severodonetsk, on Monday, June 6. (Maxar Technologies/AP)
“Ukrainian militants are shooting indiscriminately at neighborhoods near the company,” Miroshnik said on Telegram. “The snipers are working. The circle of allied troops around the remaining group is tightening.”
Miroshnik also stated that the Severodonetsk airport “has already been cleared of Ukrainian formations.”
“The shelling that was carried out from there has ceased. The remaining militants [en referencia a las fuerzas ucranianas] they hide in the forest plantations around the airport. Allied forces are searching and clearing them out,” he added.
Hayday, the Ukrainian official, said Russia has devoted enormous resources to its attempt to cut off the main road linking Severodonetsk and neighboring Lisychansk with Bakhmut further west.
“The strategic objective of the Russian army is to control the Bakhmut-Lysychansk route,” he said. “And by controlling, I mean putting their checkpoints there and keeping it under their control. For now they are bombing the route, but they don’t control it.”
He said that Ukraine no longer uses that road, as anyone driving on it has a “90% chance” of being bombed. “We have other routes to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate people,” she said.
Ukraine expects the Russian offensive on Lisichansk and Severodonetsk to “multiply,” he said. “We expect fierce battles.”
However, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) said on Wednesday morning that “Our soldiers are successfully containing the assault on the city of Severodonetsk, and hostilities continue.”
“Lysychansk is being shelled very hard,” Hayday said Tuesday night. “They shoot on purpose against humanitarian headquarters, against schools [donde se refugia la gente]. They destroy the entire infrastructure completely.”
“Yes, it is very difficult to maintain Severodonetsk,” he acknowledged. “Yes, they just completely destroyed the city. But they don’t control the city.”
He said “fierce battles” also continue in towns elsewhere in the Luhansk region, such as Zolote to the south.
“Settlements are bombed, just completely wiped off the face of the earth,” Hayday said. “But the enemy still can’t break through them.”
More than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers from Mariupol will be transported to Russia, according to state media
More than 1,000 Ukrainian servicemen who have recently surrendered in Mariupol will be transported to Russia for “investigation”, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday, citing a law enforcement source.
“More than 1,000 people from Azovstal were transported to Russia. Law enforcement is working closely with them,” the TASS source said.
Russia also plans to transport other Ukrainian prisoners of war to Russian territory, the source added.
a bit of context: At the end of May, the Russian Defense Ministry said that some 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered after weeks of fighting at the besieged Mariupol steel plant.
Shortly afterward, the Russian Investigative Committee — which acts as the Kremlin’s main investigative authority — said it would question the Ukrainian “surrendered militants” evacuated from Azovstal.
Ukrainian authorities have yet to publicly respond to the TASS report.
Ukraine will release a “Book of Torturers”
A “Book of Torturers” documenting “war criminals and criminals of the Russian army” will be released in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his late-night speech on Tuesday.
“These are concrete facts about concrete people who are guilty of concrete violent crimes against Ukrainians,” he said.
“And that ‘Book of Torturers’ is one of the foundations of the responsibility not only of the direct perpetrators of war crimes — the soldiers of the occupying army — but also of their commanders. Those who gave the orders. who made possible everything they did in Ukraine. In Bucha, in Mariupol, in all our cities, in all the communities they reached.”
The creation of this system has been underway for some time, Zelensky added.
a bit of context: Last month, a 21-year-old Russian soldier was sentenced to life in prison for killing an unarmed man in Ukraine’s first war crimes trial since the Russian invasion began.
The trial came amid mounting evidence of alleged Russian war crimes as Ukrainians recaptured areas previously occupied by invading troops.
In April, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said her office was investigating nearly 6,000 cases of alleged Russian war crimes, with “more and more” proceedings being opened every day.
Russia has denied the war crimes charges and says its forces do not target civilians. However, CNN journalists on the ground in Ukraine have seen first-hand evidence of atrocities committed in multiple locations across the country.