Ukrainian defenders had been nonetheless holding out in Syevyerodonetsk, Ukrainian officers stated, because the weeks-long battle for the important thing japanese metropolis continued, whereas the Russian forces launched a heavy bombardment on Lysychansk, situated on the financial institution of the Severskiy Donets River reverse Syevyerodonetsk.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on June 18 made a uncommon journey exterior the capital, Kyiv, visiting the embattled southern metropolis of Mykolaiv for the primary time because the begin of Russia’s invasion in February.
The Ukrainian navy stated on June 18 there was steady “hearth from artillery and rocket-propelled grenade launchers on the positions of our troops and civilian infrastructure” in Lysychansk.
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Serhiy Hayday, the navy governor of Luhansk, the area the place the dual cities are situated, informed Ukraine’s public broadcaster on June 17 that many individuals had been killed within the heavy shelling.
Hayday later stated in a web based submit {that a} key freeway out of the town was now impassable.
The British Protection Ministry stated in its each day intelligence bulletin on June 18 that previously 48 hours, Russian forces doubtless renewed their push south of the town of Izyum, some 115 kilometers northwest of Syevyerodonetsk, aiming to envelop the town from the north.
Hayday stated it was inconceivable to evacuate greater than 500 civilians who’re trapped contained in the Azot chemical plant in Syevyerodonetsk.
He stated round 10,000 civilians out of a prewar inhabitants of 100,000 stay trapped in Syevyerodonetsk, with important provides operating out.
The United Nations has put the variety of civilians nonetheless trapped within the metropolis at 12,000.
Russia earlier this week supplied what it stated was a humanitarian hall for the evacuation of civilians towards Moscow-controlled territory and demanded that Ukrainian fighters holed up within the Azot plant give up. Ukraine has ignored the Russian provide.
The British intelligence bulletin famous that Russia, each earlier within the Ukraine marketing campaign and in Syria, has used unilaterally declared humanitarian corridors as a mechanism to govern the battle area and impose the pressured switch of populations.
Russia’s proposed route, British intelligence stated, would take civilians towards the city of Svatova, deeper inside Russian-occupied territory.
If trapped civilians refuse Moscow’s provide of exiting through a hall, Russian will doubtless declare justification in making much less of a distinction between them and any Ukrainian navy targets within the space, British intelligence concluded in its bulletin.
In Mykolaiv, Zelenskiy “inspected the constructing of the Mykolaiv regional state administration which was destroyed on account of a missile strike by Russian forces,” the presidency stated in a press release.
Mykolaiv has been holding the protection of southern Ukraine, because it lies on the best way to the important thing strategic Black Sea port of Odesa.
Zelenskiy’s go to got here a day after a Russian strike killed two folks and injured 20 in Mykolaiv, which has been repeatedly focused by Russian forces because the begin of their invasion on February 24.
Zelenskiy additionally took half in a gathering with native officers in what appeared like an underground basement, giving out awards for bravery.
Russian forces additionally launched missile strikes on Ukraine’s largest oil refinery on July 18, in accordance with the regional governor within the central Poltava area.
“Kremenchuk (oil refinery) is once more beneath enemy strike. Between six and eight Russian missiles hit refineries and different infrastructure,” Dmytro Lunin stated in a Telegram message.
Ukraine stated its forces sank a Russian naval tugboat with two Harpoon missiles within the Black Sea on June 17, the primary time it has claimed to have struck a Russian vessel with Western-supplied anti-ship weapons.
“Later it grew to become identified that it sank,” Odesa navy governor Maksym Marchenko stated in a video assertion on his Telegram channel after preliminary stories that the Vasily Bech vessel had been hit.
The declare couldn’t be independently confirmed. There was no remark from the Russian facet.
Ukraine has repeatedly requested extra advance heavy weaponry to assist its outnumbered and outgunned forces stave off Russia’s all-out assault.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson supplied to launch a navy coaching program for Ukrainian forces throughout a shock assembly with Zelenskiy in Kyiv on June 17.
This system might prepare as much as 10,000 troopers each 120 days, in accordance with Johnson’s workplace. Every soldier would spend three weeks studying battle abilities for the entrance line, in addition to primary medical coaching, cybersecurity, and counter-explosive techniques.
Ukraine has been dropping hundreds of its finest troopers within the grinding conflict within the Donbas in Ukraine’s east. Zelenskiy stated as many as 100 Ukrainian troopers are dying a day.
Upon his return to Britain, Johnson stated the West should proceed to help Ukraine because it battles to get well territory seized by Russia, saying it could a “disaster” if Russian President Vladimir Putin was in a position to declare victory.
The British chief warned that Kyiv shouldn’t be pressured to simply accept a “dangerous peace” that may solely function the prelude to a renewed Russian offensive.
With reporting by Reuters, BBC, AFP, and dpa
