"Similar to the fighting in World War II": Kyiv reports on "very difficult moment" in eastern Ukraine

Created: 05/26/2022, 13:21

Image from May 22: a destroyed bridge in eastern Ukraine.

© ARIS MESSINIS/AFP

A governor speaks of erased places because Putin's troops are apparently increasing the pressure on big cities in the east of the country.

The news ticker on the military situation in the Ukraine war.

• Escalated Ukraine conflict

  : Russian troops are targeting major cities in eastern Ukraine.

• A Ukrainian governor considers the coming week to be "crucial".

• In Davos, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba is pushing for rocket launcher systems for his country.

• This

  news ticker on military events in the Ukraine war

  is continuously updated.

Kyiv - In the Ukraine war, the government in Kyiv currently sees its troops in a "very difficult moment at the front".

Bitter fighting was raging in the Donbass in the east of the country in particular, said Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The battle for Donbass is very similar to the fighting in World War II."

"Some villages and towns, they just don't exist anymore," Kuleba said.

"They were reduced to rubble by Russian artillery fire and Russian rocket launcher systems."

The Russian troops in the Donbass are currently apparently concentrating primarily on the strategically important industrial city of Severodonetsk.

The situation is "very difficult" and there are "already fighting in the suburbs," Governor Serhiy Gajdaj reported on May 25 in online networks.

"Russian troops are already close enough to fire mortar shells." According to the governor, "the coming week could be decisive".

Ukraine War News: Major City of Severodonetsk Allegedly Surrounded

Pro-Russian fighters who support Vladimir Putin's soldiers said Severodonetsk was "encircled" from three sides.

The only bridge to leave the city is now under Russian control, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

This information could not initially be checked.

According to Kuleba, Ukraine "urgently" needs rocket launcher systems to resist Russian attackers.

Russia is superior when it comes to heavy weapons, Kuleba explained in Davos.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's troops would have the greatest disadvantage with multiple rocket launcher systems.

You can find out more about the background to the Ukraine war here.