Friday's video address by President Volodimyr Zilensky stated that the situation in Donbass was "very, very difficult." He assured that "We protect our land" and would do all he could to support the defense of this area.
The self-declared pro-Russian separatist republic of Donetsk (east), declared on Telegram that it had "taken total control" over the key locale of Lyman with the support of the Russian army.
President Zelensky responded: "If the occupiers believe that Lyman and Severodonetsk are theirs, they are wrong." Donbass will become Ukrainian.
After the failure of the offensive on kyiv (northeast), at the beginning of the war launched on February 24 by Russia, Russian forces are concentrated within eastern Ukraine with the stated goal of taking total control of the Donbass mine basin, which has been partially controlled since 2014 under pro-Russian separatists.
According to the Ria Novosti news agency a police officer from the separatist proRussian republic of Lugansk stated that the city of Severodonetsk was "currently surrounded" and that Ukrainian troops were trapped there. Sergey Gaidai, Luhansk Governor, responded wrongly, saying that it was incorrect to state that the region would fall under Russian "full enemies control" in "one to two or three days." He also acknowledged that "maybe, to avoid being enclosed there could be a withdrawal command given to our troops."
The Moscow branch of Ukraine Orthodox Church, which is a religious organization, has severed all ties to Russian spiritual authorities. These Russian spiritual authorities support Vladimir Putin, a historic decision.
According to a press release, the council declared "the complete independence and autonomy of Ukraine Orthodox Church." It stated that relations between the Ukrainian Church and its Moscow leadership had been "complicated" or "non-existent" since the start of the conflict.
This is the second Orthodox schism that has broken out in Ukraine in just a few years. The Kyiv patriarchate represented a part of the Ukrainian Church that had already renounced Moscow in 2019 due to Kremlin interference.
Ukraine is the heartland of the Russian Orthodox Church. Some of its most important monasteries are located here.
On Thursday evening, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, accused Moscow of "genocide in Donbass", where Russian forces are committing "deportations" as well as "mass killings" of civilians. This expression was also used by Joe Biden, the US president.
Moscow, for its part, justified its invasion in Ukraine with a "genocide" against the Russian-speaking population at Donbass.
Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor, requested Russia to join the investigation into the crimes of war committed in Ukraine. The investigation was opened by Karim Khan in The Hague (Netherlands) four days after the Russian invasion. Neither Russia nor Ukraine is a member of the ICC. However, Kyiv has accepted its jurisdiction.
Vladimir Putin rejected Friday any Russian responsibility for the global food crisis in which Ukraine, a major agricultural country, is unable to export its cereals because of the blockage of its ports.
The Russian president offered to help in "overcoming the food crisis" on Thursday, but only if Western sanctions against Moscow were lifted first, which led to accusations of blackmail.
According to General Chris Cavoli, the next chief of forces in Europe, Germany, a "railway Bridge" has been established with Ukraine to help kyiv get around the Russian blockade. Trains will be used to transport Ukrainian wheat to Western Europe.
This is why President Zelensky will address the EU leaders in Brussels via videoconference Monday. They will discuss the EU's proposed embargo against Russian oil, which is still being blocked by Hungary.
In a Friday evening televised interview, Anton Siluanov, Russian Finance Minister, stated that Russia should make an additional 1 trillion rubles (13.7 million euros) from its hydrocarbon exports. These are high-priced. . According to him, a portion will be allotted to the continuation in Ukraine of the offensive.
