On the 86th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this Friday, May 20, Russian forces are increasing pressure in eastern Ukraine, which they have turned into “hell”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.
► 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 US Congress unblocks $40 billion for Ukraine. The bill, already validated by the elected members of the House last week, only has to be ratified by President Biden.
► Fighting intensifies in Donbass, eastern Ukraine. Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansknow surrounded by Russian forces, constitute the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the Luhansk region.
► Uncertainty remains about the fate of Azovstal fighters in Mariupol. Russia announced on Thursday that nearly 800 Ukrainian servicemen entrenched in the bowels of the steel complex had surrendered in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,730 since Monday.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT)
4:20 am: In the Donbass, “it’s hell”, says Volodymyr Zelensky
” The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to make progress in liberating the Kharkiv region. But the occupiers are trying to further increase the pressure in the Donbass. It’s hell, and that’s no exaggeration “said the Ukrainian president in his daily video, Thursday evening. The Donbass is completely destroyed added Volodymyr Zelensky, concluding: It is a deliberate and criminal attempt to kill as many Ukrainians as possible, to destroy as many homes, social facilities and businesses as possible. »
Russian shelling killed 12 people and injured 40 on Thursday in Sievierodonetsk, in the Luhansk region, according to local governor Serhyi Gaïdaï. He said most of the shots hit apartment buildings, and the death toll could rise. An AFP team on the spot noted that this industrial city had been transformed for several days into a battlefield and crushed under artillery fire. Sievierodonetsk and Lyssytchansk constitute the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the Luhansk region. The Russians surround these two localities, separated by a river, and bombard them relentlessly.
Separately, Russian soldiers on Thursday killed five civilians in the Donetsk region, also in the Donbass, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
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