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Smoke rises above the Azot chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushniak / REUTERS
Almost four months after the first Russian attack in the war that violated international law, fighting continued on Ukrainian territory.
Russian efforts are currently concentrating primarily on Sievjerodonetsk in the east of the country.
70 to 80 percent of the city area is under Russian control.
Defenders and hundreds of civilians have holed up in a chemical plant.
Russia demands surrender from the soldiers and offers the citizens an escape corridor – into pro-Russian territory.
In Cherson, which has already been conquered, the occupation administration makes it clear that it belongs "irrevocably" to Russia.
Dozens of British journalists and media representatives are no longer wanted on Russian territory.
The developments at a glance.
The chemical plant Asot
Is Ukraine threatened with a second Mariupol?
Hundreds of civilians have holed up in a chemical plant in the heavily shelled town of Sievjerodonetsk, as they did a few weeks ago in the Azov steelworks in the port city of Mariupol.
Russia has announced a humanitarian corridor for the encircled civilians, albeit to the city of Svatove, which is controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
An escape route should be opened this Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time, said the representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Mikhail Mizintsev, in Moscow.
"A safe evacuation of all peaceful citizens is guaranteed - without exception," Misintsev said.
Moscow rejected a proposal by the other side to let people flee to areas controlled by Kyiv.
This only serves to smuggle Ukrainian fighters out of the city, Misintsev said.
Kyiv is trying to implement such a scenario as before at the Azov steel plant in Mariupol.
In Mariupol, civilians waited for weeks in a steelworks with wounded Ukrainian fighters before many citizens were evacuated to Russian territory.
Steelworks defenders face war crimes allegations following Russia's surrender.
The death penalty is also up for debate.
About 540 to 560 civilians are suspected to be in bomb shelters on the plant premises in Sievjerodonetsk.
Mizintsev called on Ukrainian fighters to lay down their arms and surrender.
Then her life will be spared.
According to Ukrainian sources, after the destruction of the last strategically important bridge to Sievjerodonetsk, there is no way out for the residents of the city, which has been fought over for weeks.
"An evacuation is impossible," said the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday.
The situation in Sievjerodonetsk has become extremely aggravated, Hajdaj said on the Telegram news service.
"The Russians are destroying skyscrapers and azot," he added, referring to the chemical plant in the city.
military situation
The Russian armed forces are also continuing their attacks away from Sievjerodonetsk.
According to the British Ministry of Defense, the Kremlin troops have made small advances in the area around the city of Kharkiv for the first time in weeks, according to the daily secret service update on the Ukraine war.
According to the RIA news agency, Russia also fired at a Ukrainian artillery depot in the northern Chernihiv region with Kalibr cruise missiles.
In addition, the air defense shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet and a MI-24 helicopter, reports the Russian news agency TASS, citing the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.
According to official information, a village in the Russian region of Bryansk, not far from the border with Ukraine, has again been shelled from the neighboring country.
At least six residents were injured in the border town of Klintsi, Governor Alexander Bogomas said.
Several residential buildings were damaged.
That says Kyiv
Ukraine has again announced that it will exchange dead soldiers with Russia.
Russia has handed over the bodies of 64 "heroic" fallen defenders of the Azov steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine's Ministry for Reintegration of Pro-Russian Separatist-Controlled Areas said.
How many bodies were handed over to Russia remained unclear.
The exchange took place in the Zaporizhia region.
Kyiv did not provide any information on the exact place and time.
In two earlier similar actions, 210 killed Ukrainian soldiers had already been returned to their homeland.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused the churches in Germany of remaining silent on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Cyril I.
“If a religious leader blesses such misdeeds and the slaughter of people, why don't other church leaders condemn him?
How can Christians remain silent?” Zelenskyj said in an interview with Die Zeit.
Moscow says so
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told reporters he is "sure" that pro-Russian separatist leaders in Donbass are ready to hear an appeal from Britain over the fate of two Britons who were killed for fighting for Ukraine, according to Russia's Ria news agency were convicted.
The two Britons, aged 28 and 48, surrendered to pro-Russian troops after weeks of fighting in the south-eastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol.
According to media reports, they lived in Ukraine before the war and also married there.
Together with a Moroccan, they were sentenced to death as "mercenaries" on Thursday.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss spoke of a "false judgment without any legitimacy".
Dozens of British journalists, media and military representatives are no longer allowed to enter Russia.
"British journalists on the list are involved in the deliberate dissemination of false and biased information about Russia and events in Ukraine and Donbass," the Foreign Ministry said.
29 journalists and members of British media organizations such as the "BBC", the broadcaster "Sky News" and the newspapers "Guardian" and "Times" have been banned from entering the country.
The occupation administration in Cherson in southern Ukraine has claimed affiliation with Russia.
This was announced by the deputy head of the Kherson region's military-civilian administration, Kirill Stremouzov, in a video address on Telegram against the background of a Russian flag and a photo of Vladimir Putin.
The official said there was no longer any “symbolism of Nazism” in the region.
He described acts of sabotage and partisan activities as a "pointless waste of time".
The region is now "irrevocably the Russian Federation," Stremusov said.
Kherson was completely conquered by Russian troops at the beginning of the war.
The occupiers have recently begun to distribute Russian passports to the residents.
Ukraine fears an annexation of the area.
svs/dpa/Reuters/AFP
