According to the Russian-installed administration in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine carried out a drone strike on a nuclear power plant there, but the reactor was not damaged.
The report could not be independently verified by Reuters. Ukrainian officials did not respond immediately.
Ukraine military
The Ukrainian military reported heavy and sometimes fatal Russian shelling in the midst of what they described as largely failed Russian ground forces advances.
Ukrainian forces claimed to have destroyed 17 vehicles, some of which were armoured, and killed over 100 Russian soldiers in the previous 24 hours.
The forces said in a Facebook post that they saw no indications that the Russians were forming special strike groups to launch a new offensive.
Russian-installed administration
According to the Russian-installed administration in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine carried out a drone strike on a nuclear power plant there, but the reactor was not damaged.
The report could not be independently verified by Reuters. Ukrainian officials did not respond immediately.
The Ukrainian military reported heavy and sometimes fatal Russian shelling in the midst of what they described as largely failed Russian ground forces advances.
Ukrainian forces claimed to have destroyed 17 vehicles, some of which were armoured, and killed over 100 Russian soldiers in the previous 24 hours.
The forces said in a Facebook post that they saw no indications that the Russians were forming special strike groups to launch a new offensive.
Ned Price
“We have made it abundantly clear before, and we will do so again, that annexation by force would be a serious breach of the UN Charter. We wouldn’t let it go without retaliation, “Ned Price, a spokesperson for the State Department, said during a Wednesday morning briefing.
Russian-speaking breakaway entities in those provinces, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), collectively known as the Donbas, are supported by Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Vladimir Putin
Nearly five months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on February 24 while denying that Russia intended to occupy its neighbour, Lavrov is the most senior official to speak candidly about Russia’s war objectives in territorial terms.
Then, Putin declared that his goal was to “denazify” and demilitarise” Ukraine. Kyiv and the West scoffed at this claim, viewing it as a cover for an imperial-style war of expansion.
Since Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held peace talks in Turkey in late March that ended without a breakthrough, Lavrov told RIA Novosti that geographical realities had changed.
Now, he said, “the geography is different; it’s not just the DPR and LPR; it’s also the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and a number of other territories,” alluding to areas well outside the Donbas that Russian forces have fully or partially annexed.
In the meantime, out of an abundance of caution due to fears that Moscow could halt the flow of Russian gas through the largest pipeline in Europe, the European Union has ordered its members to reduce their gas consumption by 15% until March.
Ursula von der Leyen
“We are being threatened by Russia. According to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Russia is using energy as a weapon. She called a complete interruption of Russian gas flows “a likely scenario” for which “Europe needs to be ready.” “.
Putin had previously issued a warning that the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which has been out of service for ten days for maintenance, might have to send less gas to Europe. On Thursday, the pipeline is scheduled to reopen.
The largest gas exporter in the world, Russia, has refuted Western claims that it has ever used its energy supplies as a means of coercion, claiming that it has always been a trustworthy energy source.
Russia won’t supply oil to the global market if a price cap is set below the cost of production, according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, as reported by Interfax news agency on Wednesday.
New sanctions against Moscow have been approved by EU diplomats meeting in Brussels. These measures include a ban on the import of gold from Russia and the freezing of the assets of major lender Sberbank. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, criticised the sanctions as being insufficient.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy
In a late-night video address, Zelenskiy stated that “Russia must feel a much higher price for the war to force it to seek peace.”
