Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said that he is ready for “direct talks” with Russian President Vladimir Putin as peace talks remained suspended since March. “There was nobody else to talk to but” the Russian president, he was quoted as saying by news agency AFP. Meanwhile, Russia claims to have taken control of 97 per cent of one of the two provinces that make up Ukraine’s Donbas, bringing the Kremlin closer to its goal of fully capturing eastern Ukraine. Putin signed a decree to officially recognise the independence of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine – Donetsk and Luhansk, just a few days after the invasion. However, Ukraine maintains its core position that it retains sovereignty over areas occupied since 2014 by Russian and pro-Russian forces.
Top points on Russia-Ukraine War
1. The Russian forces continued their offensive in the separatist Donetsk region on Wednesday, according to a Bloomberg report citing the General Staff of the Ukrainian army. “Reports of heavy shelling near Izyum (city near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine) suggests Russia is preparing to make a renewed effort in the northern axis,” the UK Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence update on Twitter.
2. Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said yesterday that Moscow’s military had occupied 97 per cent of the territory of Luhansk, one of two regions that is the focus of Vladimir Putin’s war, Bloomberg reported. Russia has been seeking to seize the entire Donbas, consisting of Luhansk and Donetsk which Moscow claims on behalf of separatist proxies.
3. Russia returned 210 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, mainly from the once-besieged Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol, Ukraine’s intelligence agency said in a statement as per news agency Reuters. Ukrainians were holed up in the Azovstal steelworks for weeks as Russia tried to capture the city. The Ukrainian soldiers eventually surrendered last month and were taken into custody by Russia.
4. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday reiterated calls for more weapons to strike back at invading forces. “We are inferior in terms of equipment and therefore we are not capable of advancing,” he told a British daily paper. “We are going to suffer more losses and people are my priority.”
5. Asked about talks with Russia which have been suspended since late March, Zelensky said that Ukraine has not changed his position. He said he maintains the view that war should be ended at the negotiating table. The Ukrainian President also stated that was ready for direct talks with Vladimir Putin, adding that there was “nobody else to talk to” but the Russian president, news agency AFP reported.
6. In the global impact of war, the United States added further sanctions to Moscow by banning US money managers from buying any Russian debt or stocks in secondary markets.
7. The World Bank approved $1.49 billion in fresh funds to help pay wages for government and social workers in Ukraine on Tuesday. The World Bank said in a statement that the latest funding is supported by financing guarantees from Britain, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Latvia.
8. Amid fears of a global food crisis because of the war, Kremlin officials said Tuesday that the Russian-occupied Ukrainian ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol were ready to resume grain exports while Ukraine accused the Russian troops of bombing and looting grain warehouses. 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. Meanwhile, Moscow has denied responsibility for the international food crisis, blaming Western sanctions.
( With Bloomberg, Reuters and AFP inputs)