The front lines in the Ukrainian war changed on Sunday, as Russia made some progress in the eastern region of Donbass, which is witnessing fierce battles, while the Ukrainian army launched a counterattack near the strategic Russian-controlled city of Izyum.
In western Ukraine, near the Polish border, Ukrainian officials said that missiles destroyed military infrastructure at night, targeting the Lviv region from the Black Sea.
Ukrainian forces say that they have achieved a series of successes since the start of Russian military operations on February 24, noting that Russian leaders stopped their attack on Kyiv, and the Russian forces exited from Kharkiv, the second largest city in the country.
Since mid-April, Russian forces have focused much of their firepower on Donbass, having abandoned the goal of capturing the capital.
A British military intelligence assessment released on Sunday said Russia had lost about a third of the ground combat force it deployed in February.
The assessment said the Russian offensive in Donbass was far behind schedule and was unlikely to make rapid progress in the next 30 days.
Hottest point
Observers believe that the continued pressure on Izium and the Russian supply lines will make it difficult for Moscow to encircle the Ukrainian forces that have been honed by the battles on the eastern front in the Donbass.
Izyum is located on the Donets River, 120 km from Kharkiv, on the main road to the southeast of the country.
"The hottest point remains the direction of Izyum. Our armed forces have turned to a counterattack there. The enemy is retreating on some fronts and this is a result of the nature of our armed forces," regional governor Oleh Sengopov said in statements on social media.
But the Ukrainian military acknowledged setbacks in an update Sunday morning, which said: "Despite the losses, Russian forces are still advancing in the Lyman, Severodonetsk, Avdivika and Kurakhiv regions in the wider Donbass region."
Each side claims to have achieved successes in military strikes in the Donbass.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian military said Russian bombing did not stop at steel plant workers in the southern port city of Mariupol, where several hundred Ukrainian fighters are holed up weeks after the city fell to the Russians.
Zelensky said talks were underway to seek the evacuation of wounded soldiers from Mariupol in exchange for the release of Russian prisoners.
A huge convoy of cars and buses carrying refugees from the ruins of Mariupol arrived in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhia on Saturday, after waiting days for Russian forces to allow them to leave.
Irina Petrenko, 63, who was in the convoy, said she was first there to care for her 92-year-old mother, who later died. "We buried her opposite her house because there was no place to bury anyone," she said.
Application to join NATO
One of the goals of Russia's move in Ukraine was to prevent the former Soviet republic from joining NATO.
But Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday that his country, which shares a 1,300 km border with Russia, wants to join the alliance to boost its security.
Sweden's ruling Social Democrats on Sunday are expected to endorse the country's entry into the alliance, paving the way for a bid and abandoning decades of military non-alignment, in the wake of Russia's operations in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Putin told Niinistö that it was wrong for Helsinki to abandon its neutrality, adding that the move could harm bilateral relations.
And Germany announced, on Sunday, that it had made preparations for a rapid approval process, if Finland and Sweden asked to join the alliance.
"We must make sure that both countries are given security guarantees, and there should be no transition period and gray area, where their status is not clear," Foreign Minister Annalena Birbock said.
Russia has also come under economic sanctions, while the Group of Seven countries pledged on Saturday to "exercise more economic and political pressure on Moscow" and supply more weapons to Ukraine.
In another sign of international solidarity, US Republican senators made an unannounced visit to Kyiv, and Zelensky said the delegation discussed further tightening of sanctions against Russia.
The Source
- Agencies