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Ukrainian soldier in Seyerodonetsk
Photo: OLEKSANDR RATUSHNIAK / EPA
What has happened in the past few hours
The Ukrainian troops are in an increasingly difficult situation in the
Luhansk
region : According to the Russian news agency TASS, Russia is about to capture the village of Vovchoyarivka, which is about twelve kilometers southwest of
Lysychansk
.
In the report, Tass cites people familiar with the matter who are close to the troops of the Luhansk separatist region.
The village is near a main road leading from Lysychansk to the south-west town of Bakhmut.
The information could not be independently verified.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hayday, said that Russian forces are continuing to concentrate reserves in the twin city of
Sieverodonetsk
across the river to encircle Ukrainian troops.
He dismisses Russian claims that Russian forces already control the city.
"The fighting continues," he said on Ukrainian television.
"Russian forces are not in full control."
In its most recent analysis, the "Institute for the Study of War" reported on "successful advances" by the Russian armed forces on June 21 into settlements south-east of Sievjerodonetsk.
In the coming days they may be able to
"
threaten Lysychansk."
According to its own statements, Ukraine now only controls the territory of the Azot chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk.
With a capture of the area and the two cities, Russia would control the entire Donbass sub-region of Luhansk.
Meanwhile, negotiations to break the Russian
grain blockade
in Ukraine appear to be making progress.
UN Security Council circles confirmed to the dpa news agency that the conflicting parties could meet with
UN Secretary-General António Guterres
in Turkey – possibly as early as next week.
The talks are at a point where the UN chief would negotiate directly with the Russians and Ukrainians to secure a deal.
However, diplomats in New York warned against too much optimism: So far there has been no agreement on the export of grain from Ukraine across the Black Sea.
The mistrust between Moscow and Kyiv is still very high and there are still a number of hurdles in the negotiations.
Another open question is whether Russia is sincere about its involvement in the talks, a Western diplomat said.
The United Nations only officially announced that the negotiations were going on.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
has arrived in
Iran
for a visit .
In the capital, Tehran, he met
President Ebrahim Raisi
on Wednesday , the state news agency IRNA reported.
According to official information, the talks are about bilateral relations.
Russia is also involved in negotiations to revive the 2015 international nuclear deal aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
The effort has been stuck for many months.
Lavrov is scheduled to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian in Tehran on Thursday.
The war against Ukraine should also be a topic.
Iran demands an end to the conflict but supports Russia.
Moscow says so
Russia accuses the
United
States
of blocking a flight carrying
expelled Russian diplomats.
The Russian plane was supposed to fly out diplomats who were instructed by the US government to leave the United States by the end of the month, the State Department in Moscow said.
However, Washington did not allow this.
Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova therefore threatened unspecified
countermeasures on Wednesday.
The US State Department did not comment in detail.
However, it complained that Russia did not present the situation correctly.
International Reactions
According to the White House, the USA wants to increase the
pressure
on
Russia at the
G7
summit
in Bavaria .
A senior US government official said the United States would make "a number of concrete proposals" at the meeting that begins this Sunday.
This should also demonstrate the common support for Ukraine.
He did not give details of the measures.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala
has accused Russia of waging an
economic war against the West
in addition to the war against Ukraine .
The aim is to weaken and destabilize the democratic states, said the liberal-conservative politician in a television speech on Wednesday evening.
There is a real danger that Russia could turn off the gas supply in the coming weeks or months.
Fiala announced a five-year plan to significantly reduce his country's dependence on Russian gas and oil.
He also announced government relief measures against rising energy costs.
Estonia
has demanded more
military aid
to Ukraine in the war against Russia from the larger EU states .
Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday that her country had "already done a lot for the people of Ukraine and can't really do much more".
However, she believes "there are still opportunities to help them, from the larger member states".
Kallas also advocated officially declaring Ukraine a candidate for EU membership.
"We must give hope to Ukraine," she said.
Economic Reactions
According to the technology company
Microsoft ,
Russian hackers
are attacking
Ukraine's western allies on a large scale.
The company warned that they were targeting government computers in NATO countries in particular.
Target number one is the United States, but overall Microsoft's experts have identified attacks by Russian hackers on
128 organizations
in
42 countries
outside Ukraine.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, they have succeeded in penetrating the attacked networks in 29 percent of the attacks, it said.
At least every fourth successful attack has demonstrably siphoned off data.
Russia attacked Ukraine's IT infrastructure with both
cyber attacks
and
missiles
.
However, thanks to protective measures, the systems have proven to be largely resilient.
What is happening today
At the
EU summit
, which
begins in
Brussels , the Ukraine war is a central topic.
The 27 EU heads of state and government want to discuss, among other things, the
EU candidate status
for Ukraine and Moldova.
The
NRW
District
Council Conference
takes place in Berlin.
It also deals with the consequences of the Ukraine war.
The President of the Bundestag
Bärbel Bas
(SPD), Federal Finance Minister
Christian Lindner
(FDP), Federal Minister of the Interior
Cem Özdemir
(Greens) as well as the chairmen of the SPD and Greens parliamentary groups in the Bundestag, Rolf Mützenich and Britta Haßelmann, will be there.
A press conference on the
Potsdam Conference on National Cyber Security
at the Hasso Plattner Institute has been announced for 10:30 a.m.
The topic is cyber attacks on authorities, organizations and companies, also against the background of the Russian war of aggression.
bbr/dpa/Reuters