Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 117 of the invasion
Zelenskiy stated that he believes Russia will intensify its attacks on Ukraine and strike other European countries this week.
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Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy saidHe believed Russia would intensify its attacks on Ukraine and possibly strike other European countries. After the European Commission suggested it as a candidate to EU membership. “Obviously, this week we should expect from Russia an intensification of its hostile activities,” he saidIn a nightly video address. “And not only against Ukraine, but also against other European countries. We are preparing. We are prepared. We warn partners.”
Ukraine’s forces remain on the defensive in the eastern Donbas region, where fighting continues in Sievierodonestsk. Serhiy Hahidai, governor of the Luhansk area, said Russia was massing forces in an attempt to take full control of the city after weeks of fighting but maintained that “all Russian claims that they control the town are a lie”. “They control the main part of the town but not the whole town,” he told Ukrainian television.
EU foreign ministers will discuss ways of releasing millions of tonnes of grain trapped in Ukraine Monday meeting in Luxembourg. It is hoped a deal can be struck to resume Ukraine’s sea exports in return for facilitating Russian food and fertiliser exports but remains unclear if the EU would get involved in militarily securing such a deal. “Whether there will be a need in the future for escorting these commercial ships, that’s a question mark and I don’t think we are there yet,” an EU official said.
According to Nato, the war in Ukraine could continue for years and will require sustained military support.and other western leaders. “We must prepare for the fact that it could take years,” Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, saidIn an interview with Bild on Sunday. The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, added: “I am afraid that we need to steel ourselves for a long war.”
Ukraine’s parliament voted through two laws on Sunday that will place severe restrictions on Russian books and music. Proposed laws will ban Russian citizens from printing books, prohibit the commercial import of Russian books, and ban the playing and listening to music by Russian citizens after 1991. This is the latest attempt at breaking cultural ties between the two nations.
The New York Times reported that more than 2000 munitions were used by Russian forces in Ukraine., “a vast majority of which were unguided”. According to the newspaper over 210 weapons were identified. These were types that have been banned under a variety different international treaties.
Austria’s government announced it will reopen a mothballed coal power station because of power shortagesReduced gas imports from Russia have resulted in lower gas prices. The authorities would work with the Verbund group, the country’s main electricity supplier, to get the station in the southern city of Mellach back in action, the chancellery saidSunday
Morocco’s national human rights body has urged Russian authorities to guarantee a “fair trial” for a young national appealing a death sentence Pro-Russian court in Ukraine imposed the sentence. Amina Bouayach, president of the National Council of Human Rights, has contacted the high commissioner for human rights in the Russian Federation and urged the Russian body to take “the necessary steps to ensure Brahim Saadoun receives a fair trial during his appeal”.
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Source: The Guardian
