Intense street fighting in Severodonetsk
“Our heroes hold their positions in Severodonetsk. Intense street fighting continues,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his final video address on Monday evening.
kyiv is struggling to cope with the influx of Russian troops into Severodonetsk, the largest city still in Ukrainian hands in the Lugansk region.
The Russians “are in the process of destroying the city… As they have not managed to take it in one or two days, they are using air strikes, heavy artillery”, testified Monday evening Oleksandr Striouk, responsible for of the Severodonetsk administration, worrying that the evacuation of civilians would now be “virtually impossible”.
Severodonetsk Mayor Oleksandre Stryuk confirmed on Monday that “the situation was changing every hour” and that “intense street fighting” was taking place in his city.
Is Russia stealing Ukrainian grain?
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken considers “credible” the information according to which Russia “steals” Ukrainian grain exports, blocked due to the conflict, “to sell them for its own profit”. “All of this is deliberate,” he said yesterday, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “blackmail” to get international sanctions lifted.
The New York Times reported that Washington warned 14 countries, mostly in Africa, in mid-May that Russian cargo ships were carrying “stolen Ukrainian grain.” Antony Blinken referred to this article from the American daily. The Ukrainian ambassador in Ankara had accused Russia on Friday of “stealing” and exporting Ukrainian cereals, in particular to Turkey.