Fighting shakes up eastern, southern Ukraine

Fierce fighting

According to Reuters, the General Staff of Ukraine said on May 3 that the city (city) Kharkiv is under continuous shelling by Russia. Russian forces are also trying to gain control of the city of Rubizhne in the Luhansk province of eastern Ukraine and are preparing to attack the nearby city of Sievierodonetsk. The Ukrainian military says the heaviest clashes are taking place near the city of Popasna in Luhansk. Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said the shelling was so intense that they were unable to collect the bodies. The Russian military is said to be trying to encircle the Ukrainian forces there by advancing from three directions with massive shelling across the front.

Pro-Russian forces fired rocket artillery systems in Mariupol on May 2 Reuters

However, Ukrainian forces claimed to have repelled 12 Russian attacks in Luhansk and Donetsk in one day, and at the same time down 7 Russian drones, according to CNN. Several areas of Donetsk are also under constant fire and the authorities are trying to get people out of the front lines. On the southern front, Zaporizhzhia province officials said fighting continued, especially around the city of Hulyaipole. Ukraine said the port city of Odessa was hit by a missile and suffered many casualties. Curfew in Odessa was extended amid concerns among officials that Odessa could become the new front.

Russia has not commented on the new information released by Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on May 3 that the country’s high-precision missile destroyed a transit station for Western weapons supplying Ukraine near Odessa. TASS on May 3 quoted Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying that Russian forces hit 69 targets. military of Ukraine, including bases, troop concentrations and military equipment, weapons systems such as S-300 missiles, and command posts. The Russian National Guard also discovered a large warehouse containing many weapons, ammunition and food of Ukrainian special forces in Kharkiv province. Ukraine has not confirmed these information.

The West accelerates action

In that situation, Reuters reported that a high-ranking representative of policy Foreign Affairs and Security of the European Union (EU) Josep Borrell on May 2 said the union is hoping to approve a sixth package of sanctions against Russia at the upcoming meeting. Accordingly, the EU will ban the import of Russian oil and remove Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, from the SWIFT system.

The move came after Germany, Russia’s largest energy customer, unexpectedly changed its stance and announced its readiness to support Russia’s oil embargoes. Previously, the German government repeatedly stated that it would not immediately cut off dependence on Russian energy because it would plunge the country into a recession despite much pressure from its allies.

The West also continues to pump more weapons to Ukraine. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 3.5 announced clause military aid new $376 million for Ukraine, including electronic warfare equipment, radar systems, GPS jammers and thousands of night vision devices. Britain will also deploy heavy drones to provide logistical support to isolated Ukrainian forces in the coming weeks.

On the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin On May 3, he signed a decree on economic sanctions in retaliation for “unfriendly actions of a number of foreign countries and international organizations”. Accordingly, Russia will ban the export of products and raw materials to the parties on Russia’s sanctions list, and ban transactions with them.