The Ukrainian cities of Sloviansk and Bakhmut, in the province of Donetsk – one of the Donbass provinces in the east of the country – are already beginning to register the intensification of Russian attacks, Governor Serhii Haidai said on Monday.
The scenario was already expected by Ukraine after Moscow gained control of neighboring Lugansk province over the weekend, repelling troops from Kiev.
“Russian number one target is the Donetsk region,” Haidai said. The UK Ministry of Defence, which monitors the conflict, also said in its daily report that the Russian focus was now on capturing Donetsk.
Leaders of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian breakaway republic of Donetsk said that in the past 24 hours, Kiev forces had bombed 15 of the region’s 240 settlements. They say five people died and another 20 were injured.
Serhii Haidai also claimed that in the cities of Severodonetsk and Lisitchansk, taken by the Russians in Lugansk, there are still 8,000 and 10,000 civilians, respectively. The information could not be independently confirmed.
The Russian advance was celebrated from space. Roscosmos, the country’s space agency, released on Monday photos of cosmonauts on the International Space Station holding the flags of Donetsk and Lugansk.
“The entire territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic has been liberated; this is an expected day for residents of the areas occupied eight years ago,” reads the text accompanying the photos on the Telegram messaging app.
The message came hours after Russia claimed a total takeover of Lugansk province.
“Citizens of the allied People’s Republic of Donetsk, wait!” reads the end of the text shared by Roscosmos.
In March, shortly after the start of the war, the same cosmonauts — a Russian designation for astronauts — on the International Space Station were seen in yellow and blue uniforms, which many interpreted as a message of support for Kiev, as these are the Ukrainian flag colors.
They deflected on the matter when asked if that was really a message of support for the neighboring country, and Moscow also obviously denied the possibility.
“Marshall Plan” for the reconstruction of Ukraine
The future reconstruction of Ukraine is the theme this Monday and Tuesday (5) of a conference in Lugano, Switzerland, bringing together about a thousand political leaders, representatives of international institutions and businessmen.
In participation by videoconference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that
“the reconstruction of Ukraine is the common task of the entire democratic world and the greatest contribution to world peace”.
The cost of the project was estimated at US$750 billion by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmihal. He insisted that Russian assets blocked by sanctions must finance reconstruction.
The purpose of the meeting in southern Switzerland is to work out a kind of “Marshall plan” for reconstruction, in reference to the US economic program of aid to Europe after the Second World War.
The expression, used by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Council President Charles Michel in relation to Ukraine, has become common to refer to a major foreign aid program to lift a region or country devastated by conflict, catastrophe or crisis.
The conference had been scheduled before the Russian invasion, and was originally planned to discuss reforms in Ukraine, including fighting endemic corruption, but the topic changed in the face of the war.
According to Swiss President Ignazio Cassis, reconstruction and the fight against corruption do not compete, but complement each other. The Lugano meeting should lead to “an effective political process”, he said.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, went in the same direction. “Ukraine can come out of all this on the way to a stronger and more modern country, with a stronger judiciary and institutions, with successes in fighting corruption, but also with a greener, more digital and more resilient economy,” she said. .
Ukraine is ranked 122 out of 180 countries in the 2021 report by the NGO Transparency International. The number is better than 2014 (142) and better than Russia (136), but still far behind its neighbors in the European Union — Bulgaria, with the lowest ranking in the bloc, is at 78.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who assumed the EU presidency six months ago, also attended the meeting, as did his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki, whose country is home to the largest number of Ukrainian refugees.
