MADRID/KYIV, June 30 (Reuters) – Russia pressed on with its offensive in jap Ukraine on Thursday after NATO branded Moscow the largest “direct menace” to Western safety and agreed plans to modernise Kyiv’s beleaguered armed forces.
Ukrainian authorities mentioned they had been attempting to evacuate residents from the frontline jap metropolis of Lysychansk, the main focus of Russia’s assaults the place about 15,000 folks remained below relentless shelling.
“Combating is occurring on a regular basis. The Russians are continually on the offensive. There isn’t a let-up,” regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai advised Ukrainian tv.
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Russian troops had attacked the Lysychansk oil refinery on Thursday morning, Gaidai later wrote on Telegram.
The ambassador of the self-proclaimed Luhansk Folks’s Republic advised Russia’s RIA information company the Lysychansk oil refinery was now totally managed by Russian and pro-Russian forces, and all roads to Lysychansk had been additionally below their management.
Russian forces are attempting to encircle Lysychansk as they search to seize the Donbas area, which contains Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
At a summit on Wednesday dominated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the geopolitical upheaval it has prompted, NATO invited Sweden and Finland to affix and pledged a seven-fold improve from 2023 in fight forces on excessive alert alongside its jap flank.
In response, President Vladimir Putin mentioned Russia would reply in sort if NATO arrange infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they be part of the U.S.-led army alliance. learn extra
Putin was quoted by Russian information companies as saying he couldn’t rule out that tensions would emerge in Moscow’s relations with Helsinki and Stockholm over their becoming a member of NATO.
U.S. President Joe Biden introduced extra land, sea and air pressure deployments throughout Europe from Spain within the west to Romania and Poland bordering Ukraine.
These included a everlasting military headquarters with accompanying battalion in Poland – the primary full-time U.S. deployment on NATO’s jap fringes. learn extra
“President Putin’s battle in opposition to Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and has created the largest safety disaster in Europe for the reason that Second World Conflict,” NATO Secretary-Common Jens Stoltenberg advised a information convention, committing to place 300,000 NATO troops on excessive readiness from 2023. “NATO has responded with power and unity.” learn extra
Britain mentioned it could present one other 1 billion kilos ($1.2 billion) of army help to Ukraine, together with air defence programs, uncrewed aerial autos and new digital warfare tools. learn extra
UKRAINE PLEADS FOR MORE WEAPONS
Because the 30 nationwide NATO leaders had been assembly in Madrid, Russian forces intensified assaults in Ukraine, together with missile strikes and shelling on the southern Mykolaiv area near entrance strains and the Black Sea.
The mayor of Mykolaiv metropolis mentioned a Russian missile had killed at the least 5 folks in a residential constructing there, whereas Moscow mentioned its forces had hit what it known as a coaching base for overseas mercenaries within the area.
Assaults on the northeastern metropolis of Kharkiv continued, Ukraine’s army mentioned, with shelling from tanks, mortars and missiles.
Video confirmed police and emergency employees analyzing the destroyed stays of a manufacturing facility and broken residential buildings in Kharkiv on Wednesday.
“The place, why and what they (Russians) focused is unclear, but. We’re determining the place they aimed as a result of there are not any army models in that space,” Volodymyr Tymoshko, chief of Kharkiv area police advised Reuters.
Within the southern Kherson area, Ukrainian forces had been combating again with artillery strikes of their very own, Oleskiy Arestovych, adviser to the Ukrainian president, mentioned in a video posted on-line.
A video clip aired on Russia’s RIA state information company confirmed former U.S. soldier Alexander Drueke, who was captured whereas combating for Ukrainian forces. learn extra
“My fight expertise right here was that one mission on that in the future,” mentioned Drueke, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, referring to the day he was captured exterior Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis. “I did not fireplace a shot. I might hope that may play a think about no matter sentence I do or do not obtain.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as soon as once more advised NATO that Ukrainian forces wanted extra weapons and cash, and sooner, to erode Russia’s enormous edge in artillery and missile firepower, and mentioned Moscow’s ambitions didn’t cease at Ukraine.
The Russian invasion that started on Feb. 24 has destroyed cities, killed hundreds and despatched tens of millions fleeing. Russia says it’s pursuing a “particular army operation” to rid Ukraine of harmful nationalists. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of an unprovoked, imperial-style land seize.
The highest U.S. intelligence official Avril Haines mentioned on Wednesday the most probably close to time period situation is a grinding battle through which Moscow makes solely incremental positive factors, however no breakthrough on its aim of taking most of Ukraine.
‘FULL SOLIDARITY’
In a nod to the precipitous deterioration in relations with Russia for the reason that invasion, a NATO communique known as Russia the “most important and direct menace to the allies’ safety”, having beforehand categorized it as a “strategic companion”.
NATO issued a brand new Strategic Idea doc, its first since 2010, that mentioned a “robust impartial Ukraine is important for the steadiness of the Euro-Atlantic space”.
To that finish, NATO agreed a long-term monetary and army support bundle to modernise Ukraine’s largely Soviet-era army.
“We stand in full solidarity with the federal government and the folks of Ukraine within the heroic defence of their nation,” the communique mentioned.
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Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Modifying by Stephen Coates
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