Only diplomacy can end the Ukraine war, the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has insisted as Kyiv on Saturday ruled out settling for ceasefire or “concessions” to Russia. While referring to the bid for European Union membership, Zelensky said: “The war will be bloody, there will be fighting but will only definitively end through diplomacy. Discussions between Ukraine and Russia will decidedly take place. Under what format I don’t know.” Meanwhile, Moscow has stepped up assault in the eastern rebel-controlled region of Donbas after it claimed win in the port city of Mariupol and declared that it had seized the last holdout of Azovstal steel plant.
Here are ten updates on the Ukraine war:
1. “The situation in Donbas is extremely difficult,” Zelensky was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters in his nightly address. Moscow was trying to attack the cities of Sloviansk and Sievierodonetsk, but Ukrainian forces were holding off their advance, he added.
2. Ukraine has clarified that it won’t give any concessions to the Kremlin or settle for a ceasefire. “The war will not stop (after concessions). It will just be put on pause for some time,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters.
3. Zelensky has urged for more military aid on Saturday in his nightly address even as US president Joe Biden signed a $40 billion bill for the war-torn nation while he is on an Asia visit. The war-hit country has estimated its losses to be around $100 billion, reports have said.
4. On Saturday, Moscow claimed it had struck with cruise missiles a large stockpile of weapons supplied by the West in the Ukraine’s northwest Zhytomyr region “Long-range, high-precision Kalibr missiles, launched from the sea, destroyed a large consignment of weapons and military equipment supplied by the United States and European countries,” an ofifical statement read.
5. Moscow on Friday claimed a victory in the strategic port city of Mariupol as it said that over 2,000 Ukraine personnel had surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant since May 16. This comes after series of setbacks amid the offensives.
6. The Ukraine war has triggered a global fuel and food crisis. But it has also widened the differences between Russia and its neighbouring countries.
7. In the latest developments, Moscow on Friday cut gas supply to Finland, which along with Sweden, had applied for NATO membership this week.
8. Meanwhile, Zelensky too has been pushing for EU membership. He has also rejected alternatives such as the ones suggested by French president Emanuel Macron that a sort of associated political community be created as a waiting zone for a membership bid.
9. “We don’t need such compromises. Because, believe me, it will not be compromise with Ukraine in Europe, it will be another compromise between Europe and Russia,” he said.
10. The Ukraine war is set to enter the fourth month this week with no end in sight.
(With inputs from Reuters, AFP)
