Ukraine is preparing for an intensification of Russian attacks in the Donbass, in the east of the country, a priority objective for Moscow but where its forces are struggling. In Mariupol, at the southern tip of the Donbass, the Russian army continues its bombing and intensive artillery fire on the Azovstal steelworks, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in this strategic port, according to the Ukrainian general staff.
For their part, the NATO countries will continue to help Ukraine militarily, still under pressure from Russian bombing, assured Berlin on Sunday May 15, while Finland announced its candidacy for the Atlantic Alliance by welcoming a ” historic day”.
- Russia focuses on Donbass
“We are preparing for new attempts by Russia to attack Donbass, to somehow intensify its movement towards southern Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video released Sunday evening. And yet, according to him, “the occupiers still do not want to admit that they are at an impasse”.
The Russians are transferring troops from the Kharkiv region (north) to that of Lugansk, in the Donbass, with the aim of taking Severodonetsk, assured for his part the Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich on Sunday evening. The Ukrainian general staff confirmed this Monday morning May 16 that the Russian army was concentrating its forces in Izioum, between Kharkiv and Severodonetsk.
- Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv
Russian forces are also now facing a counter-offensive from Ukrainian forces in the region of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, where they are approaching the border with Russia.
“The enemy is concentrating its efforts on maintaining its positions and preventing the advance of our troops towards the border,” the Ukrainian army headquarters said on Monday morning.
In Vilkhivka, a village east of Kharkiv taken over by the Ukrainians, the scars of the violent fighting remain on the houses ripped open by the shells, streets strewn with debris, bullet casings and other remnants of ammunition or even the tanks out of order abandoned on the road.
- In Ukraine, the shadow war of the two Orthodox Churches
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, placed the priests of the Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate at odds.
This has retained many parishes across Ukraine, despite the recognition by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2019 of an independent Orthodox Church in Ukraine, ending more than 300 years of Russian religious guardianship. But Patriarch Kirill’s absolute support for the Russian invasion is reshuffling the cards.
On February 27, Kirill said he saw it as a fight against the “forces of evil” opposed to the historic “unity” between Russia and Ukraine. Then in April, he called for unity around power against the “external and internal enemies” of Russia. Words that provoked indignation in the West and made Pope Francis react, who accused him of being “Putin’s altar boy”.
- To “liberate” their companion: the European journey of wives of Azovstal fighters
At the Vatican, wives of Azovstal fighters were granted a five-minute audience with Pope Francis. In France, a meeting with political figures – starting with President Emmanuel Macron or his wife Brigitte – would obviously be welcome, but “it’s not our main goal, the objective is to attract attention about the situation” in Azovstal, said Hanna Naoumenko, 25.
Their companions are among the Ukrainian fighters entrenched in the Azovstal steelworks, surrounded and besieged by the Russians, who have been trying for weeks to take this last pocket of resistance in Mariupol, a strategic port city in the south-east largely destroyed by the conflict. .
The Ukrainian government has entered into difficult negotiations with the Russians to evacuate at least the most seriously injured. But “it’s not that he doesn’t do enough, but he could do more”, explains diplomatically Olha, leader of a network of crèches in kyiv.