A week ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of having turned Donbass into hell. He was referring to the seriousness of the attacks in the eastern region of his country that.
Other Ukrainian officials reiterated the president’s expression in different ways, such as the defense deputy, who described the new Russian attacks in the east as a “maximum intensity” offensive.
Now, although he maintains the speech that the international community expands the military aid sent to Kiev, as well as sanctions against Russia, Zelensky said this Friday (27) that his country needs to face reality and discuss scenarios with Vladimir Putin. possible for the end of the war.
“There are things to discuss with the Russian leader. I’m not saying that our people and I are eager to talk to him, but we have to face the reality of what we are living,” the Ukrainian leader said during a speech to a think tank. from Indonesia. “We want our lives back, we want to recover the life of a sovereign country within its own territory.”
Earlier this week, the president said he would not agree to discuss the end of the war with anyone other than Putin. On Friday, however, he said that Russia did not appear ready for a peace negotiation, returning to Moscow the accusations he himself had received.
Russian officials accuse Ukraine of ill-will in talks to end the conflict. The criticism was reiterated by the Kremlin spokesman. “The Ukrainian leadership often makes contradictory statements. This does not allow us to fully understand what the Ukrainian side wants,” said Dmitri Peskov.
The last face-to-face meeting between the two delegations took place almost two months ago, on March 29, when the representatives did not even shake hands. There have been virtual meetings, but no concrete advances have been made, and there are no indications that the war is nearing its end.
In fact, the signs say the opposite. In the same week that Russian authorities said they are not worried about deadlines and that they would even be slowing down the pace of the offensive – under the pretense of allowing the evacuation of civilians from the areas most affected by the conflict -, the scenario continues to be one of concentration of Moscow forces in eastern Ukraine.
In Kharkiv, in the northeast, renewed attacks on the already heavily bombed city left at least seven civilians dead and 17 others injured, according to officials. Ukraine’s second-largest city is still the scene of resistance from Kiev’s forces, but Russia has seized other key points in the region.
On Friday, pro-Russian separatists from the Donetsk region said they had taken “full control” of Liman. An important railway hub, the city was briefly under the group’s control in 2014. Its conquest could now allow Russian troops to overcome the last hurdle to advance to the municipalities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk – capital of the Donetsk region, which is under Ukrainian control. It will also reinforce the strategy of keeping the siege of Severodonetsk and Lisitchansk further east.
Ukrainian officials have acknowledged the takeover of most of Liman, but say troops are still holding back the Russians from advancing into Sloviansk. Already Severodonetsk is 90% destroyed by bombing and with two thirds of the territory taken by Russia, according to the governor of Lugansk, Serhii Haidai.
He speaks of “fierce resistance” against the enemies and says that the province will not be taken in the next few days, as some analysts predicted, but admits the possibility of a Ukrainian retreat. “We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However, it is possible that, in order not to be [totalmente] surrounded, we have to retreat,” Haidai posted on his channel on the Telegram app.
In southern Ukraine, the military command said that Russia was sending military equipment from Crimea to the seized strip of the region, which includes, among others, the cities of Kherson and Mariupol. The objective would be to build a third line of defense to prepare for a possible Ukrainian counter-attack and turn part of the territory on the banks of the Dnipro River into a kind of minefield.
In the diplomatic field, Russian Chancellor Sergei Lavrov reacted strongly to the possibility that the West would donate weapons to Ukraine that could directly reach Russian territory – for him, a “serious step towards an unacceptable escalation”. He also said that Western countries have declared “total war on Russia and the Russian world”, again criticizing the cancellation of his country’s culture.
While he did not mention any specific weapons shipments, Lavrov may be referring to reports from US officials that the Joe Biden government is considering providing Kiev with the M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Rocket Artillery System). ).
The armament is capable of hitting targets hundreds of kilometers away. Washington has so far refrained from supplying equipment such as the M142 precisely fearing that it will be used to attack targets inside Russia and, thus, provoke a worsening of the conflict.
