Hard shelling in eastern Ukraine when NATO announces Finland’s and Sweden’s membership offer
Moscow’s forces – strengthened by occupying several cities in the Donbas in recent weeks – continued to push west and struck at their next key target, the city of Sloviansk, with “massive” shelling, the city mayor said.
At least two people were killed and seven others injured in Russian attacks on its central market, after several days of similar deadly bombings there.
AFP journalists on the ground saw rockets hit the marketplace and several adjacent streets, as firefighters fought to put out the resulting fires in the city, which had a population of about 100,000 before the war.
“This is pure and simple terrorism,” he told Telegram.
In Moscow, the Defense Ministry reported that Russian forces had also targeted the northeastern city of Kharkiv with “high-precision” weapons in the past 24 hours, claiming that they had killed up to 150 Ukrainian soldiers.
Several other regions were also hit by missiles and artillery, Kyiv reported.
At the same time, Russia said it was investigating the torture of Russian soldiers held captive in Ukraine recently released as part of a prisoner exchange.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers hailed Tuesday as “historic”, after initiating accession procedures for the two countries that will expand the military alliance to 32 members.
“Membership in both Finland and Sweden will not only contribute to our own security but to the collective security of the Alliance,” said Finland’s Pekka Haavisto, following the signing of protocols initiating the necessary ratification process.
Sweden and Finland both announced their intention to release decades of military alliance and become part of NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov welcomed Tuesday’s “timely (and) correct” steps and added on Twitter: “Who will be next …?”
NATO offered Ukraine a path to membership in 2008, but it stalled under strong Russian opposition and has been further complicated by its invasion.
With the war well into its fifth month, Kiev’s allies in the Swiss city of Lugano on Tuesday pledged to support Ukraine through what is likely to be a long and costly recovery.
Two days of talks with representatives from some 40 countries agreed on the need for reforms to increase transparency and tackle corruption, as they heard that the reconstruction of the war-torn country could cost at least $ 750 billion.
At the same time, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet demanded that “unbearable” civilian suffering cease when she criticized the “senseless war”.
Bachelet said that by July 3, more than 10,000 civilian deaths or injuries had been documented across Ukraine, with 335 children among the 4,889 dead.
The actual numbers are likely to be significantly higher, she added.
After abandoning its original goal of conquering Kyiv after fierce Ukrainian resistance, Russia has since focused its efforts on securing control of the eastern Donbas region.
The Donbas consist mainly of Lugansk, which Russian forces have almost completely conquered, and Donetsk in its southwest, which they are now concentrating on taking full.
In a sign that Moscow was trying to consolidate the supply lines for its ongoing push, Ukraine’s armed forces said Russian troops in Lugansk were “taking action” to restore the transport infrastructure behind the battle lines.
The fall of Lysychansk on Sunday, a week after the Ukrainian army also withdrew from the neighboring town of Severodonetsk, has released them to advance against Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk.
On Tuesday, they first approached the smaller town of Siversk – located between Lysychansk and Sloviansk – after days of shelling there.
Two Ukrainian Red Cross minibuses were on their way there to evacuate willing civilians, according to AFP reporters.
“Fierce fighting is taking place on the outskirts of the Lugansk region near Lysychansk,” Lugansk Governor Sergiy Gaiday told Telegram.
“The occupiers are withdrawing equipment to the Donetsk region.”
In the southwest, in the Moscow-occupied Kherson region, Russian troops deployed helicopters and various artillery to try to stop Ukrainian counterattacks.
The intensified fighting there comes when the Kremlin-installed authorities in Kherson announced that an official from Russia’s powerful FSB security services had taken control of the regional government there.
The city of Kherson, located near Moscow-annexed Crimea, was the first major city to fall to Russian forces in February and has since seen a campaign of so-called Russianization.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s defense minister said on Tuesday that Russian forces outside the Donbas region “are trying to tie up our troops to prevent them from moving to the battlefields”.
“It keeps us … on full alert along the entire front line,” he told the Ukrinform news agency.
But he warned that “provocations” from its northern neighbor are likely to continue.
Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday accused Ukrainian forces of firing missiles at his country.