Enlarge image
Smoke over Sieverodonetsk
Photo: STRINGER / REUTERS
What has happened in the past few hours
The city of Sievjerodonetsk
in eastern Ukraine, which
has been fought over for weeks , is
almost completely encircled by Russian troops after
the third and final bridge over the Siwerskyi Donets river was destroyed .
"Unfortunately, it is now completely impossible to drive into the city or deliver anything to the city," Governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Monday.
"An evacuation is impossible." Only the Ukrainian military still has limited access to the city.
70 to 80 percent of the city is controlled by Russia, he told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
According to Ukrainian sources, hundreds of
civilians
are staying in
bunkers at the
Asot chemical plant in the city.
The pro-Russian separatists in
Donetsk
reported on Monday that the city was said to have been hit by the heaviest
Ukrainian shelling
since the beginning of the war.
Four people
were
killed
and more than 20 people were injured, local media reports said.
A maternity clinic in the former metropolis caught fire, but nobody was injured there.
The reports were not independently verifiable.
To protect the city and the People's Republic of Donetsk, more troops from "allied forces", i.e. the Russian army, are needed, said separatist leader Denis Puschilin, according to the DAN agency.
The Ukraine has lost around a
quarter of its agricultural land
as a result of the Russian war of aggression .
Despite this loss, enough can be planted this year to ensure food security for the population, said Ukraine's Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi.
Because the need has fallen due to the flight of many people.
"Ukrainian farmers were able to prepare for sowing relatively well before the war began," said Vysotskyi.
In February, the Ukraine had already imported about 70 percent of the fertilizers it needed, 60 percent of the pesticides and about a third of the fuel it needed for sowing.
However, the invasion of Russian troops and the ongoing
blockade of the Ukrainian Black Sea ports
are preventing the export of grain.
According to the United Nations, this poses a threat to the food supply in many other, especially poorer, countries.
That says Kyiv
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the battle for eastern Donbass will go down as one of the most brutal in European
history
.
“For us, the price of this battle is very high.
It's just
scary
, "says Zelenskyj in his daily video message.
"We draw our partners' attention to the fact that only a sufficient number of modern
artillery
for Ukraine will ensure our advantage."
The President called on the citizens of Ukraine to maintain contact with the
Russian-occupied parts
of the country , Donetsk or the Kharkiv region.
These areas would also be liberated again, he announced.
"Tell them that the Ukrainian army will definitely come!"
Zelenskyi also promised his compatriots a
reconquest of the
Crimean
Peninsula annexed from Russia
.
"The Ukrainian flag will again fly over Yalta and Sudak, over Dzhankoy and Yevpatoria," he said in his video message.
"Of course we will also liberate our Crimea."
In a television interview, Zelenskyj called on the
federal government
to take a clearer stance on supporting his country and warned against a "balancing act" between Kiev and Moscow.
In an interview for the ZDF "heute journal", Selenskyj accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) of still showing too much consideration for Russia.
(read more here)
He also made it clear that he expected the European Union to grant his country candidate status this June.
He would
like Scholz
(SPD) to personally support
Ukraine's EU membership
.
In the time before Scholz took office, i.e. during the chancellorship of
Angela Merkel
(CDU), "a certain skepticism" prevailed in Germany's political leadership with regard to his country's accession to the EU and NATO.
During a visit to Kiev at the weekend,
EU Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen announced that she would complete the analysis of Ukraine's EU membership application at the end of next week.
In any case, the recommendation of your authority should be linked to reforms.
The EU countries must then unanimously decide how to proceed.
This is to happen at an EU summit on June 23rd and 24th.
International Reactions
According to Prime Minister
Eduard Heger ,
Slovakia
wants to
help Ukraine in the EU accession process.
After speaking to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he said Ukraine should be given a reform team to help with implementation.
At the same time, Heger emphasizes that there should be no short cuts for
Ukraine
's accession to the EU .
Scholz says that Ukraine has sent a strong pro-European signal with its application for membership.
Economic Reactions
Federal Agriculture
Minister Cem Özdemir
(Greens) expects
food prices
in Germany to continue to rise as a result of the war in Ukraine.
"We have to expect increases in autumn and winter because the trade now has to supply itself with expensive energy and the price increases are passed on to the customers," Özdemir told the "Rheinische Post".
What is happening today
French President
Emmanuel Macron
is traveling to Romania and then on to Moldova on Wednesday.
He visits French troops who have been deployed there at a military base and meets
Romania's President Klaus Iohannis
there .
In
Moldova
, Macron meets
President Maia Sandu
.
Topics of the talks are the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and Moldova's desire to join the European Union
The
effects of the war
on global
agricultural markets
are a central theme at the German Farmers' Day, which begins in Lübeck at noon.
Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir is also expected to attend.
Many farms are struggling with increased costs for energy and fertilizers, among other things, as the farmers' association explained.
Many groceries in the supermarkets have also become significantly more expensive.
In view of the lack of grain exports from Ukraine, a shortage of supplies is also expected in some countries
bbr/Reuters/dpa/AFP