latest
- Ukraine’s defense minister called for more weapons from the West to halt the advance of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
- Britain’s foreign secretary spoke with her Ukrainian counterpart to discuss two British fighters sentenced to death in Russian-backed separatist territory.
- The heaviest fighting centers on the strategic Donbass city of Severodonetsk.
Ukrainian leaders are warning that the fate of industrial areas in their country’s east will depend on the amount of Western-supplied heavy weapons that could be placed on the front lines in the Donbass, as Russia presses With its efforts to expand its control in Severodnetsk and other strategic cities.
The whole area has been hit by heavy Russian shelling, serhi haidai, the Ukrainian governor of the eastern Luhansk region, which forms the Donbass with Donetsk, said on Friday. Fierce street fighting continues in Severodnetsk, he said on the Telegram social-media platform, adding that major routes such as the road between the eastern cities of Lisichansk and Bakhmut remain under Ukrainian control as the fighting turns into a war of words.