Ukraine will fight to recover all its territory occupied by Russian forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday, as his troops struggled to hold their ground in bloody street-to-street fighting in the city of Sievierodonetsk.
"We have already lost too many people to simply cede our territory," Zelenskyy said by video link at an event hosted by Britain's Financial Times newspaper. "We have to achieve a full de-occupation of our entire territory."
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Zelenskyy's remarks responded forcefully to suggestions that Ukraine must cede territory to Russia to end the war, now in its fourth month.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a recent interview it was important not to "humiliate" Moscow, comments interpreted in Ukraine as implying it must accept some Russian demands.
Asked about Macron's comments, Zelenskyy said: "We are not going to humiliate anyone; we are going to respond in kind."
As he spoke, Ukrainian troops in the ruins of Sievierodonetsk were trying to cling to gains Kyiv said its forces had made in a surprise counter-offensive that shifted momentum there last week.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, said the defenders were finding it hard to repel Russian attacks in the center of Sievierodonetsk, a small industrial city in the east.
"The Russians are trying with all their might to capture Sievierodonetsk and cut off the highway from Lysychansk to Bakhmut," he said in an online post. "In the regional center it is hard to stave off the attacks, but the occupiers do not control the town."
Moscow said its troops have been advancing.
The fight for Sievierodonetsk has emerged as a pivotal battle, with Russia focusing its offensive might in the hope of achieving one of its stated aims – to fully capture surrounding Luhansk province on behalf of separatist proxies.
Ukrainian officials had said their forces staged a surprise counter-attack last week, driving the Russians from a swathe of the city center.
Before that, Russia had seemed on the verge of encircling Ukraine's garrison in Luhansk, attempting to cut off the main road to Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk across the Siverskiy Donets River.
Gaidai said in his post that Lysychansk was under constant bombardment.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 saying it aimed to "disarm" and "de-nazify" the country. Ukraine and its Western backers say Russia launched an unprovoked war to grab territory.
Russia's troops were defeated on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv in March and it has since regrouped and ramped up an assault on the east, demanding Kyiv recognize its territorial claim to the Crimea peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014, and the claims of its separatist proxies in Luhansk and Donetsk, the southeastern provinces together known as the Donbas.
Russia has been pressing from three main directions – east, north and south – to try to encircle the Ukrainians in the Donbas.
In Druzhkivka, in the Ukrainian-held pocket of Donetsk province, residents were sifting through the wreckage of houses obliterated by the latest shelling.
Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, was also hit by shelling early on Tuesday, and the local mayor said one person was killed. The northeastern city came under intense bombardment in the first two months of the war, but had been quieter in recent weeks after Russian forces retreated in the region.
Ukraine is one of the world's biggest exporters of grain, and Western countries accuse Russia of creating the risk of global famine by shutting Ukraine's Black Sea ports.
The governor of the region that included the port of Mykolaiv said weekend shelling had destroyed warehouses in one of the country's largest agricultural commodities terminals.
Moscow denies responsibility for the international food crisis, blaming Western sanctions.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Russian-occupied Ukrainian ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol were ready to resume grain exports. Ukraine says any such shipments from territory seized by Moscow would amount to illegal looting.
Zelenskyy said Kyiv was gradually receiving "specific anti-ship systems," the best way to break a Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports.
The Kremlin said that for exports to resume from Ukrainian-held ports, Kyiv must first clear them of mines. Russia could then inspect and escort ships to international waters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was due to hold talks Wednesday with Turkish officials on a plan that could allow Ukraine to export its grain through the Black Sea to global markets.
Turkey is involved in efforts for the establishment of a UN-led mechanism that would create a secure corridor for the shipment of the Ukrainian grain – and for Russia to export food and fertilizer. Turkey would facilitate and protect the transport of the grain in the Black Sea, Turkish officials have said.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Tuesday that technical details were still being worked out.
"Our efforts are continuing concerning the technical planning on such issues as how it will be done, how the mines will be cleared, who will do it, how the corridor will be established and who will escort (ships)," Akar said.
Lavrov's discussions in the Turkish capital were also expected to focus on Turkey's plans to launch a new cross-border offensive in northern Syria against Syrian Kurdish militia that Ankara considers to be a security threat. Turkey needs Moscow's approval to continue its presence in northern Syria, despite the two supporting opposite sides in Syria's civil war. In 2020, 37 Turkish soldiers were killed in Russia-backed airstrikes against rebels in Syria's last rebel-held Idlib province.
"Turkey really needs Russia's blessing in order to be able to carry out this operation [in Syria]. And so I think they're really going to try to get that kind of a concession out of the Russian side," said Merve Tahiroglu, Turkey program coordinator at Project on Middle East Democracy.
Lavrov's meeting also comes as Turkey – a NATO member – has voiced opposition to Sweden and Finland's bids to join the alliance. Moscow has also objected to the Nordic countries' candidacy – which analyst say may play a role in discussions concerning Syria.
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Turkey has maintained its close ties to both Ukraine and Russia. It has criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but hasn't joined international sanctions against Russia.
Meanwhile, the US military has begun training Ukrainian forces on the sophisticated multiple rocket launchers that the Biden administration agreed last week to provide. The Pentagon said the training is going on at a base in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, is mounted on a truck and can carry a container with six rockets, which can travel about 45 miles (70 kilometers). Officials said it would take about three weeks of training before they could go to the battlefront.
In other developments, Zelenskyy said Ukraine planned to publish a special "Book of Executioners" next week with information about war crimes committed by the Russian army.
"These are specific facts about specific people who are guilty of specific cruel crimes against Ukrainians," he said. Those named would include not only people who carried out the crimes but their commanders, he said.
