A pro-Russian separatist leader in East Ukraine said that more than 5,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war were being held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, TASS reported on Friday. The separatists also said they had established full control over the strategic eastern Ukrainian town of Lyman.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Western military analysts see the battle for Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk as a possible turning point in the war after a shift in momentum towards Russia following the surrender of Ukraine's garrison in Mariupol last week.
The Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk is the center of fierce fighting in the east. Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk says it's holding out even though a Russian reconnaissance and sabotage group went into a city hotel.
Stryuk said at least 1,500 people have been killed in Sievierodonetsk and about 12,000 to 13,000 remain in the city, where he said 60% of residential buildings have been destroyed.
Sievierodonetsk is the only part of the Luhansk region in the Donbas under Ukrainian government control, and Russian forces have been trying to cut it off from the rest of Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Stryuk said the main road between the neighboring town of Lysychansk and Bakhmut to the southwest remains open, but travel is dangerous. He said only 12 people were able to be evacuated Thursday.
Ukraine's foreign minister, meanwhile, is pleading with Western nations to provide Kyiv with heavy weapons to enable it to push Russian forces back.
Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday night tweeted a video of himself answering questions submitted on Twitter and said: "We need heavy weapons. The only position where Russia is better than us it's the amount of heavy weapons they have. Without artillery, without multiple launch rocket systems we won't be able to push them back."
Kuleba said that the situation in the east of the country, where the Russian forces are on the offensive, "is as dire as people say."
He added: "I would even say it's even worse than people say. We need weapons. If you really care for Ukraine, weapons, weapons and weapons again," the minister stressed.
A Ukrainian regional governor says that four people have been killed in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk over the past 24 hours by Russian shelling. One more person was killed by a Russian shell in the village of Komushuvakha.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, wrote in a Telegram post Friday that "the residents of Sievierodonetsk have forgotten when was the last time there was silence in the city for at least half an hour." He said that "the Russians are pounding residential neighborhoods relentlessly."
Sievierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said on Thursday that 60% of the city's residential buildings have been destroyed, and about 85-90% have been damaged and require major repairs.
The head of Ukraine's armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny, called on the messaging app Telegram for more Western arms, particularly "weapons that will allow us to hit the enemy at a big distance".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later warned that any supplies of weapons that could reach Russian territory would be "a serious step towards unacceptable escalation".
Western countries led by the United States have provided Ukraine with long-range weaponry, including M777 howitzers and Harpoon anti-ship missiles, from Denmark.
Washington is even considering providing Kyiv with a rocket system with a range of hundreds of kilometers and has held discussions with Kyiv about the danger of escalation if it strikes deep inside Russia, US and diplomatic officials said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday he was forming a southern military command and sending battalion tactical groups to the area that borders Ukraine.
Lukashenko did not give details, but battalion tactical groups typically consist of mechanized infantry including tanks. The territory of Belarus was used for rocket attacks on Ukraine, but the military of Belarus did not take part in the Russian ground operation.
Ukrainian authorities have expressed concern that Belarus may agree to a wider participation in the war.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, urged the West to stop playing around with Russia and impose tougher sanctions on Moscow to end its "senseless war" in Ukraine, adding that his country would remain independent, the only question was at what price.
Zelenskyy's criticism of the West has mounted in recent days as the European Union moves slowly toward a possible Russian oil embargo and as thousands of Russian troops try to encircle the two eastern cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
"Ukraine will always be an independent state, and it won't be broken. The only question is what price our people will have to pay for their freedom, and what price Russia will pay for this senseless war against us," Zelenskyy said in a late-night address on Thursday. "The catastrophic unfolding events could be still stopped if the world treated the situation in Ukraine as if it were facing the same situation if the powers that be did not play around with Russia but really pressed to end the war."
Zelenskyy complained about disagreements within the EU on more sanctions against Russia and asked why some countries were being allowed to block the plan.
The EU is discussing a sixth round of punitive measures, including an embargo on Russian oil imports. It requires unanimity but Hungary opposes the idea on the grounds that its economy would suffer too much.
Hungary needs 3.5 to 4 years to shift away from Russian crude and make huge investments to adjust its economy and until there is a deal on all issues, it cannot back the EU's proposed oil embargo, a top Hungarian aide said.
Zelenskyy said Russia was getting one billion euros a day from the 27-nation bloc for energy supplies.
"How many more weeks will the European Union try to agree on a sixth package?" he asked.
"Pressure on Russia is literally a matter of saving lives. Every day of procrastination, weakness, various disputes, or proposals to 'pacify' the aggressor at the expense of the victim merely means more Ukrainians being killed."
Zelenskyy's comments mark the second day in a row that he has sharpened his criticism of the world's approach to the war.
On Wednesday, he savaged suggestions that Kyiv make concessions to bring peace, saying the idea smacked of attempts to appease Nazi Germany in 1938.
A EU summit on May 30-31 could see divisions between members who want a hard line on Russia and those calling for a ceasefire.
Russian President Vladmir Putin, meanwhile, said the West would fail in its attempts to isolate Russia and face growing economic problems.
Speaking Thursday via video link to members of the Eurasian Economic Forum, Putin said Russia wasn't going to shut itself off from international cooperation. The forum includes several ex-Soviet nations.
Putin said that trying to isolate Russia is "impossible, utterly unrealistic in the modern world" and "those who try to do it primarily hurt themselves."
The Russian leader cited growing economic challenges in the West, including "inflation unseen in 40 years, growing unemployment, rupture of supply chains and the worsening of global crises in such sensitive spheres as food."
"This is not a joke," he said. "This is a serious thing that will have an impact on the entire system of economic and political relations."
He lambasted the West for seizing Russian reserves, saying that "the theft of others' assets never brought any good."
Western allies are reportedly considering allowing Russian oligarchs to buy their way out of sanctions and using the money to rebuild Ukraine, according to government officials familiar with the matter.
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland proposed the idea at a G-7 finance ministers' meeting in Germany last week.
Freeland raised the issue after oligarchs spoke to her about it, one official said. The Canadian minister knows some Russian oligarchs from her time as a journalist in Moscow.
The official said the Ukrainians were aware of the discussions. The official said it's also in the West's interests to have prominent oligarchs dissociate themselves with Russian President Vladimir Putin while at the same time providing funding for Ukraine.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
