Russia gains more ground and Ukraine denounces ‘massive’ bombings from Belarus

Russian and separatist forces entered the last important city that the Kremlin needs to conquer to finish occupying one of Ukraine’s eastern provinces, while kyiv denounced a “massive” bombardment of its territory with missiles launched from Belarus.

“The people’s militia and the Russian army entered Lisichansk. Some companies in the city have already been taken over. Currently, street fighting is taking place,” a representative of the pro-Russian separatists, Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Marotchko, was quoted as saying on Telegram. AFP news agency.

The announcement, which was not confirmed by the Ukrainian authorities, It comes at a time when Russian forces and their allies are gaining ground in Lugansk.

Yesterday, the Ukrainian forces received the order to withdraw from Severodonetsk, another key locality to conquer the province.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrovan ally of the Kremlin who is fighting with his forces in Ukraine, reported that “the entire territory” of Severodonetsk “is under control”, reported the Sputnik news agency.

In this context, he assured that 800 Ukrainian civilians who were refugees from the Russian siege in a local chemical plant were evacuated.

El alcalde, Oleksandre Striukconfirmed today that the city was “fully occupied” by the Russian army, after weeks of fierce fighting.

La toma de Lisichansk y Severodonetskcities separated by a river, would allow Moscow and its separatist allies to control Luganskwhich together with Donetsk forms the Donbass region, a mining basin partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

The Ukrainian authorities maintain that these advances will not imply a significant change in the course of the military campaign.

For the military command of kyivukrainian troops they managed to wear down the Russian Army and buy time for Ukraine to receive Western heavy weapons that will allow him to counteract the superiority of Russia, especially in artillery.

On the other hand, Ukraine denounced today that several Russian missiles that fell in the north of its territory were launched from Belarus and directly accused the Kremlin of wanting to “lure into the war” this diplomatic ally of Moscow.

“Today’s bombing is directly related to the Kremlin’s efforts to draw Belarus into the war in Ukraine as a co-belligerent,” the general directorate of the Ukrainian intelligence services, under the Defense Ministry, said on Telegram.

“Around 5 in the morning (23 hours on a Friday in Argentina), a massive missile barrage hit the Chernigov region. Twenty rockets were aimed at the town of Desna, launched from the territory of Belarus (and also) from the air,” the Northern command of the Ukrainian troops announced shortly before on Facebook, without mentioning casualties.

In addition to Desna, Russian forces hit targets “in the kyiv and Sumy (northeast) regions.”

Desna, a small town that had 7,500 inhabitants before the war, is 70 kilometers north of kyiv and the same distance south of the border with Belarus.

The attack occurred hours before the new meeting they held today Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexandr Lukashenko in Saint Petersburg.

At the beginning of the meeting, Putin announced that Russia will deliver to Belarus “in the coming months” missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“In the coming months we are going to transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions,” the Russian president said in his interview with Lukashenko in St. Petersburg, broadcast by Russian television, the AFP news agency reported.

In remarks that could further deteriorate relations between Moscow and Western countries, Putin and Lukashenko also indicated that they want to modernize Belarusian aviation to be able tocarry nuclear weapons.

“Many Su-25 (aircraft) are in service with the Belarusian air force. They could be upgraded in an appropriate way. This modernization should be carried out at aircraft factories in Russia and the training of personnel should start accordingly,” Putin declared, after Lukashenko asked him to “adapt” his planes capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

“We will agree on how to accomplish this,” the Russian president added.

Although not involved in the conflict with Ukraine, Belarus provided logistical support to Moscow troopsespecially in the first weeks of the Russian offensive.

In one of the bombings of Moscow in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin claimed that it killed “up to 80” Polish fighters.

“Up to 80 Polish mercenaries, 20 armored fighting vehicles and eight Grad multiple rocket launchers were destroyed in shelling [realizados con] high-precision weapons against the Megatex zinc factory in the town of Konstantinovka” in Donetsk, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry further stated that “More than 300 Ukrainian military and foreign mercenaries, as well as 35 heavy weapons, were destroyed in one day in Mikolaiv”, in the south of Ukraine.

Russia calls all foreign volunteers fighting alongside Ukrainian forces “mercenaries.”

The war in Ukraine, which entered its fifth month, will be the subject that will dominate the G7 summit from tomorrow, which will bring together the main world economies in Germany.

And in the face of a conflict that risks prolonging itself over time, the members of NATO, of which Ukraine is not a part, will meet in Madrid next week.

–