The months-long conflict in Ukraine has progressed, with Russia now laying siege to the country’s east. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that the military situation in the eastern region of rebel-held Luhansk appears to be deteriorating, with Russia intensifying its efforts to evict Ukrainian troops from key areas. “That is the most difficult part. The occupiers are pressing hard “In a video address on Tuesday, Zelensky stated. Since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, Russian-backed forces have been fighting Ukrainian forces in the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, collectively known as the Donbas. Since invading Ukraine on February 24, Russia has failed to make a significant breakthrough, with some military analysts predicting that time is on Ukrainians’ side.
Updates from the war:
Currently, the Russian military controls approximately 95 percent of the Luhansk region. Despite deploying additional troops and a massive advantage in military assets, Moscow has struggled for weeks to completely overrun it.
2) In the battleground city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukrainian defenders held on to the Azot chemical plant on the city’s outskirts. About 500 civilians are taking refuge at the plant, and Haidai claims Russian forces are destroying the area.
3) On Tuesday, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was also heavily shelled by Russia. According to Governor Oleh Syniehubov, 15 civilians were killed and 16 were injured in Kharkiv and elsewhere in the region.
4) Ukraine is set to become an official candidate for European Union membership on Thursday, according to EU diplomats.
In preparation for Friday’s meeting of EU leaders to decide whether to grant Ukraine candidate status,
5) Zelensky said he had spoken with leaders from nine European Union countries: Croatia, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain. He stated that his schedule for Wednesday is also jam-packed. “We are broadening the circle of those who support Ukraine’s candidacy, increasing the likelihood that Friday’s decision will be favorable,” he said.
6) Meanwhile, today is Russia’s ‘Day of Remembrance and Sorrow,’ commemorating the invasion of the Soviet Union by Hitler’s Nazi Germany forces during World War II. It is also commemorated in Ukraine and neighboring Belarus, which were both part of the Soviet Union at the time. The war lasted 1,418 days, beginning on June 22, 1941, and historians estimate that approximately 27 million Soviet soldiers and civilians died.
Source:HT