Latest news from the war in Ukraine: more and more voices accuse Russia of "genocide"

Video summary of the war Ukraine - Russia: May 26 14:20

(CNN Spanish) -- 

Russia continues its advance in eastern Ukraine and outnumbers and outguns Ukrainian forces, while President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Moscow of "genocide" for its action in the Donbas region.

See the latest news of the war on May 27, 2022.

Zelensky says that the Russian action in Donbas is "a clear policy of genocide"

The intensification of the Russian offensive in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region reflects "a clear policy of genocide," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his late-night speech on Thursday.

"The current offensive by the occupiers in Donbas can make the region uninhabited," Zelensky said.

"They want to burn Popasna, Bakhmut, Lyman, Lysychansk and Severodonetsk to ashes. Like Volnovakha, like Mariupol," he added.

• Ukraine acknowledges having lost some territory in Donbas due to the advance of Russian troops

In the cities closest to the Russian border, such as Donetsk and Luhansk, Russian forces are "assembling everyone they can to take the place of the dead and wounded of the occupying contingent," Zelensky said.

"All of this, including the deportation of our people and the mass killings of civilians, is a blatant policy of genocide carried out by Russia."

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Zelensky said that putting pressure on Russia "is literally a matter of saving lives" and that every delay, dispute or proposal to "appease" Russia leads to "new dead Ukrainians" and new threats to everyone on the continent.

Experts accuse Russia of inciting genocide in Ukraine and seeking to "destroy" the Ukrainian people

A damaged residential building is seen in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 26.

(Photo: Sergey Kozlov/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

Russia's actions in Ukraine provide enough evidence to conclude that Moscow is inciting genocide and committing atrocities with the intent to destroy the Ukrainian people, according to the first independent report on allegations of genocide in that country.

The legal report, signed by more than 30 leading jurists and experts on genocide, accuses the Russian state of violating several articles of the United Nations Genocide Convention.

It warns that there is a grave and imminent risk of genocide in Ukraine, backing up the accusations with a long list of evidence including examples of mass killings of civilians, forced deportations, and dehumanized anti-Ukrainian rhetoric used by senior Russian officials.

• ANALYSIS |

  This is what genocide means" and why it's so hard to prove

The report was produced by the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, a US-based think tank, and the Canada-based Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, and will be published this Friday.

Its authors will send copies to parliaments, governments and international organizations around the world.

An advance copy of the report has been shared exclusively with CNN.

"We have brought together the best legal experts from around the world, who have examined all the evidence and concluded that the Russian Federation is responsible for violations of the Genocide Convention in Ukraine," Azeem Ibrahim told CNN. of the New Lines Institute.

Ibrahim visited Ukraine in March to gather evidence for the report.

"This is a very comprehensive and detailed examination of extensive evidence," he said.

"What we have seen so far is that this war is genocidal in nature, in terms of the language that is being used and the way that it is being executed. That is very, very clear."

Heavy fighting continues in Luhansk region, according to Ukrainian authorities

Ukrainian authorities reported continued heavy fighting in the Luhansk region on Friday, with a local military chief describing "fierce battles" for the city of Severodonetsk.

In televised remarks, Oleksandr Striuk, head of the Severodonetsk city military administration, said: "There have been fierce battles for the city. We have a hot spot, the Mir hotel. On May 26 [Thursday], an enemy group from sabotage and reconnaissance entered the Mir hotel. The [Ukrainian] Armed Forces resisted."

A pro-Russian Telegram channel said Russian forces had entered the hotel, which is in northern Severodonetsk, and street fighting was taking place.

A man walks near the remains of a missile in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lisichansk on May 26.

(Photo: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, said a Ukrainian operation to retake the hotel was under way on Friday, but added: "We still don't have control of the hotel. But we are working to expel the Russians [Russian fascists]. ]".

Hayday also described heavy shelling around Severodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk as Russian forces pushed in from the direction of the towns of Purdivka and Shchedryshchevo, saying they had set the Lysychansk police station on fire and damaged some 50 buildings in the area.

"Residents of Severodonetsk have already forgotten what it is like for the city to be silent for at least half an hour," Hayday said.

"Russians continuously harass residential neighborhoods. On May 26, four residents of Severodonetsk were killed by enemy shells in the old neighborhoods of the city. Two of them died at the same time near a high-rise building. There is damage to the housing stock ; 11 apartment buildings and one private house damaged."

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