On the 92nd day of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Thursday May 26, the Russian army seeks at all costs to seize the city of Sievierodonetsk, in eastern Ukraine where kyiv, which would constitute a major conquest for Moscow.
► Moscow has blocked the RFI website, which broadcasts information in fifteen languages including Russian. An alternative URL address allows access to the site in French and in Russian. RFI in Russian is also available on Telegram: https://t.me/RFI_Ru via a VPN and in Russia in French via satellite on Hotbird.
► The site of the Russian editorial staff of RFI broadcasts Ukrainian public radio (in the Ukrainian language) from the home page.
The main points:
► Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba accuses NATO of doing “strictly nothing” against the invasion of his country launched by Russia, and prefers to salute the “revolutionary decisions” of the European Union.
► The European Commission presented legislative proposals on Wednesday to facilitate a confiscation of the assets of blacklisted Russian oligarchs and harmonize the repression in the EU of the violation of the sanctions decided in response to the war in Ukraine.
► The situation on the ground in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, where the Russian army has made progress in recent days, is “worsening by the hour”, regional governor Sergei said on Tuesday Gaidai. The Russian troops are indeed concentrating their offensive on the last pocket of resistance in the Donbass.
► Ukrainian forces are now pounding Russian positions with brand new Western artillery systems, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army told AFP.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT), click here to refresh
4:40 am: “We need the help of our partners, and particularly weapons”
In some areas of eastern Ukraine, where the Russian offensive has been concentrated for weeks, “ the enemy is significantly superior in terms of equipment, number of soldiers “, recognized Wednesday evening the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. But, he immediately added in his daily video message, the Ukrainian forces and both who defend the country ” resist the extremely violent offensive of Russian troops in the east “. ” We need help from our partners, especially weapons “, he said again.
On the same day, his Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba also called for more heavy weapons. Ukraine wishes to receive mobile units capable of sending several rockets simultaneously. ” It really is the weapon we badly need “said Dmytro Kouleba after a series of discussions with government officials and business leaders, gathered within the framework of the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland. ” The battle for Donbass is very similar to the battles of the Second World War “, he explained to the press. According to him, ” some villages and towns no longer exist in this region of eastern Ukraine, which has been under intense bombardment for days. “ They were reduced to rubble by Russian artillery fire, by Russian multiple rocket launchers “, explained the minister, adding that it was precisely the type of weapons that his country lacked.
“ Countries dragging their feet on supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine must understand that every day they spend deciding, weighing different arguments, people are being killed “, hammered in Davos the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
4:20 am: “Very difficult situation” in Sievierodonetsk
The Russian forces are getting closer every day to Sievierodonetsk, a city of some 100,000 inhabitants before the war, the capture of which is essential for them to fully control the Donbass, a mining basin already partly occupied by pro-Russian separatists supported by Moscow. To the extent that “ Russian troops advanced to be so close they can fire mortars on Sievierodonetsk, assured Wednesday Serguiï Gaïdaï, the governor of the region. According to him, the city is just being destroyed “. “ The situation in the city is very difficult. Yesterday there was already fighting on the outskirts of the city, continued Mr. Gaïdaï, who estimated that “ next week will be decisive “.
However, he said Wednesday evening, the city ” is not surrounded “Contrary to what a leader of the pro-Russian separatists said. About 15,000 people are still there and in the surrounding villages, he said, adding that the overwhelming majority of them did not want to move despite the incessant shelling. In this region, the towns on the front line have been emptied of their inhabitants, the recalcitrant, often elderly, spending most of their time hiding in cellars.
In the nearby town of Lysytchansk, police have taken over funeral services to bury the dead, Gaidai said. At least 150 people must have been buried there in a mass grave, he added.
04h00: Hello and welcome to this live
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