Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of carrying out “genocide” in Donbass, in the east of the country, where the city of Severodonetsk was suffering a deluge of bombs. Russian forces also shelled Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city in the northeast of the country, on Thursday (May 26), which had returned to some semblance of normal life in recent weeks.
“The current offensive of the occupiers in the Donbass could make the region uninhabited”, affirmed the Ukrainian head of state in his televised address on the night of Thursday to Friday, accusing the invaders of seeking to “reduce to ashes” Severodonetsk and other towns in the region.
Russian forces practice “deportation” and “mass killing of civilians” in the Donbass, continued Volodymyr Zelensky, denouncing “an obvious policy of genocide carried out by Russia”. These accusations echo those of Moscow, which justified its invasion by an alleged “genocide” practiced by the Ukrainians against the Russian-speaking population in the Donbass.
In April, the Ukrainian Parliament had already adopted a resolution describing the actions of the Russian army as “genocide”, and had urged all foreign countries and international organizations to do the same. US President Joe Biden has himself used this expression, while his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron refuses to do so.
- The attempted encirclement of the Russian army
After failing to take kyiv and Kharkiv, the Russian army has refocused its efforts on the complete conquest of Donbass, an industrial basin already partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014. Supported by a deluge of bombs, the Russian army threatens Severodonetsk, which could suffer the same fate as Mariupol, a major port in the south-east largely destroyed after weeks of siege.
The Russian army is trying to encircle the city and the neighboring city of Lysytchansk, a senior Pentagon official told Washington. “We believe Russian forces were able to capture most of northeast Severodonetsk, although fighting is still ongoing,” he said.
According to the head of the civil and military administration of Severodonetsk, Alexander Stryuk, between 12,000 and 13,000 people are still in the city, which had 100,000 inhabitants before the war. “Sixty percent of Severodonetsk’s housing stock has been destroyed, 85-90% of the city’s buildings have been damaged and will require major restoration,” he said, as quoted by Ukrainian media.
At least five civilians were killed in 24 hours in the region of Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, the epicenter of fierce fighting with Russian troops, announced this Friday, May 27 the governor of the region Serguiï Gaïdaï.
Four civilians were killed in Severodonetsk, the regional capital, and 50 buildings were damaged there, he said. A man was also killed by a shell in Komychouvakha, 50 kilometers from Severodonetsk. “The people of Severodonetsk have forgotten what a ceasefire for at least half an hour is,” Sergey Gaidai wrote on Telegram. “The Russians are constantly shelling the residential areas”. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Donetsk, another region of Donbass in eastern Ukraine, reported Thursday evening five civilians killed during the day.
- Bombings in Kharkiv
The air alert sirens sounded again this Friday at dawn in Kharkiv, where bombing the day before left 9 dead and 19 injured, all civilians according to Volodymyr Zelensky. A five-month-old baby and his father were notably killed, while the mother was seriously injured, the Ukrainian president said. Missiles hit the residential area of the Pavlové Polé district, in the center-north of the city, according to an AFP journalist on the spot. He saw a young man killed and four injured, all taken to hospital, including an older man with a severed leg and arm.
Russia had ceased its offensive on Kharkiv in mid-May to concentrate more troops in the east and south of Ukraine, and the city has begun a difficult return to normal in recent days, notably reopening the circulation of the metro.
Russian forces maintain positions east of Kharkiv. The Ukrainians dug new trenches around the city and set up concrete blocks, sandbags and road checkpoints, in preparation for a possible new assault.
- A “railway bridge” set up by Germany
While Ukraine is currently unable to export its grain due to the blockade of its ports, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is ready to help “overcome the food crisis” that this entails, provided that this is preceded a lifting of sanctions against Moscow. In an attempt to circumvent the blockade, Germany has set up a “railway bridge” with Ukraine to help kyiv export its grain, said the next head of US forces in Europe, General Chris Cavoli.
On the southern front, Russia is busy consolidating its hold on the territories conquered for three months. She thus announced that she was going to allow the inhabitants of the regions of Zaporijjia and Kherson to apply for a Russian passport via “a simplified procedure”. Ukraine has denounced a “forced” granting of Russian nationality demonstrating Moscow’s desire to lead a pure and simple annexation of these territories.
And in Mariupol, a town hall official announced on Thursday that the children would, instead of summer holidays, follow a program of “de-Ukrainization” and preparation for the Russian program, including language lessons, of literature and history.