Sieverodonetsk is “fully occupied” by the Russian army, announces the mayor of the city of Donbass

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UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – Le Figaro provides an update on the latest information from journalists, Ukrainian and Russian official statements, Western sources, analysts and international organizations.

Au 122e day, or four months, of war in Ukraine, Sieverodonetsk has fallen. The city of Donbass, the scene of fierce fighting between the Ukrainian and Russian armies for several weeks, is “fully occupiedby the Russian army, its mayor Oleksandre Striouk announced on Saturday.

Before this announcement, kyiv urged its allies to give it the “fire paritywith the Russian forces, forstabiliser» the situation in the Donbass. For its part, Moscow announces that it has killed 80 “mercenariesPolish in the Donbass. Le Figaro takes stock this Saturday, June 25.

Sieverodonetsk in Russian hands

«The city is completely occupied by the Russians“, declared the mayor of Sieverodonetsk, Oleksandre Striouk, on Ukrainian television at the end of the afternoon. On Friday, Serguiï Gaïdaï, governor of the province of Lugansk (east), where Sieverodonetsk is located, announced that the Ukrainian armed forces had “received the order” to withdraw from the city. “It no longer makes sense to stay on positions that have been constantly bombarded for months“, he had declared.

The separatists notably indicated that they had taken control of the Azot chemical plant in Sieverodonetsk and “evacuatedmore than 800 civilians who had taken refuge there. Information confirmed by the mayor:These people lived almost three months of their lives in basements, shelters. It’s difficult emotionally and physiologically“, he said, believing that “now they (needed) help: medical and psychological».

On this Donbass front,the Ukrainian units are exhausted, bloodless. They had terrible losses with battalions completely neutralized“Explains a senior French officer on condition of anonymity, referring to units of 300 or 400 men of which only about twenty valid ones remained.

Russian and Pro-Russian forces enter Lysychansk

«People’s militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic and the Russian army entered the city of Lysychansk“, neighboring town of Sieverodonetsk, said on Telegram a representative of the pro-Russian separatists, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrei Marochko. “Some businesses in the city have already been taken. Street fights are currently taking place there“, he added. This announcement, which could not be independently confirmed immediately, comes as Russian forces and their separatist allies have gained ground in recent days in this area which has been the scene of fierce clashes, including artillery, since Several weeks.

Moscow claims to have killedup to 80» polish fighters

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Saturday that it killed “up to 80“Polish fighters in a shelling in the Donetsk region, “20 armored fighting vehicles and eight rocket launcherswithout specifying when the bombings took place. Moscow also asserted thatmore than 300 Ukrainian servicemen and foreign mercenaries, as well as 35 heavy weapons were destroyed within a day in Mykolaivin southern Ukraine.

Missiles fired from Belarus

Missiles were fired from Belarus, a diplomatic ally of Moscow, towards the Cherniguiv border region in Ukraine, northeast of kyiv, the Ukrainian army said on Saturday. “Around 5 a.m. (2 a.m. GMT), the Cherniguiv region came under massive missile bombardment. Twenty rockets targeted the village of Desna, fired from the territory of Belarus (and also) from the air“, indicated on Facebook the Northern command of the Ukrainian troops, specifying that”there were no casualties” at this stage. “An infrastructure has been affected“, specified the Ukrainian army, without indicating if it was military or not.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, “six Tu-22M3 aircraft fired 12 cruise missiles from the town of Petrykawin southern Belarus. “The bombers took off from Chaikovka airport in the Kaluga region (west) in Russia», 270 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border. “They then entered the airspace of Belarus. After launching the missiles, they returned to Russia“, he said. In addition to Desna, a small village of 7,500 inhabitants 70 km north of kyiv, the Russians hit targets “in Kyiv and Sumy regions” (northeast).

kyiv asks for more artillery

Ukraine, which continues to demand more heavy weapons from its allies to counter Russian strike power, reiterated this call on Friday evening to “stabiliser» the eastern front. “I stressed the need to achieve fire parity with the enemy, which will allow us to stabilize the situation in the most threatened region of Lugansk“, said Friday evening the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, reporting on his Facebook page on a telephone conversation with his American counterpart, General Mark Milley.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the announcement by the White House of “new military aidUS $450 million. “This support“, which includes the delivery of additional Himars rocket launchers, “is now more important than ever“, he estimated on Twitter.

Ukraine’s candidacy for the EU: aaggressive approach according to Moscow

Russian diplomacy denounced on Friday the decision of the Twenty-Seven to grant Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidate for the European Union, a choice whichconfirms that a geopolitical monopolization of the space of the CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States, which brings together several countries of the former USSR, editor’s note) is actively continuing in order to contain Russiasaid Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

According to the Russian official, the EU aims “establish relations with neighboring regions based on the master-slave principle». «This aggressive approach by the European Union has the potential to create new schisms and much deeper crises in Europe.“, she continued. So many words thatshow (the) weaknessfrom Russia, retorted kyiv.

A G7 scheduled for Sunday

Three days after the recognition of Ukraine and Moldova as EU candidates, Western leaders will try to close ranks and maintain their unity against Russia at two crucial summits: G7 from Sunday in Germany and NATO from June 28 to 30 in Madrid.

Civilian and military casualties

There is no overall assessment of the civilian victims of the conflict, which is certainly very heavy. On the military level, Western security sources speak of 15,000 to 20,000 Russian soldiers killed. Ukrainian forces are losing around 100 soldiers every day, according to kyiv. No independent statistics are available.

A third of displaced or refugee Ukrainians

More than seven million Ukrainians are displaced in the country, according to the UN. Added to this are 7.7 million who have fled abroad. Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine had 37 million inhabitants in the territory controlled by kyiv, amputated in particular from the Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014.

SEE ALSO – War in Ukraine: “no cityfrom the Donetsk region is notsafefor its inhabitants, according to the governor

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