Russia Ukraine War Live, Mariupol Fall to Russia: Ukraine said it clawed back a chunk of the industrial center of in combat that appeared Saturday to be stymieing a Russian drive to capture the ruined city, the focus of Moscow’s offensive to take the eastern Donbas region. (Here’s how the war has changed in the last 100 days)
Sergio Gaiman, governor of Luhansk province, told national television that Ukrainian troops had retaken 20% of the territory they had lost in Gaiman. It was “not realistic” the city would fall in the next two weeks even though Russian reinforcements were being deployed, he said on Friday. Ukrainian officials are counting on advanced missile systems that the United States and Britain recently pledged to swing the war in their favor, and Ukrainian troops have already begun training on them.
While Ukraine’s resistance has forced Putin to narrow his immediate goal to conquering the entire Donbas region, Ukrainian officials said he remains intent on subduing the whole country. Moscow has poured troops and material into the battle for, which Russia must overrun to take all of Luhansk, one of two provinces that comprise the eastern Donbas region that the Kremlin has stated it intends to capture.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Friday that Moscow was preventing Ukrainian ports from exporting grains, blaming rising global food prices on the West.
"We are now seeing attempts to shift the responsibility for what is happening on the world food market, the emerging problems in this market onto Russia," he said on national television.
He said the best solution would be for Western sanctions on Russia's ally Belarus to be lifted and for Ukraine to export grain through that country.
"If the work of the Russian media — operators and journalists — is not normalized in the United States, the most stringent measures will inevitably follow," ministry spokeswoman Maria Sakharov said on Friday.
Ukrainian officials are counting on advanced missile systems that the United States and Britain recently pledged to swing the war in their favor, and Ukrainian troops have already begun training on them.
While Ukraine's resistance has forced Putin to narrow his immediate goal to conquering the entire Donbas region, Ukrainian officials said he remains intent on subduing the whole country. "Putin's main goal is the destruction of Ukraine. He is not backing down from his goals, despite the fact that Ukraine won the first stage of this full-scale war," Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Magyar told national television on Friday.
Moscow has poured troops and material into the battle for, which Russia must overrun to take all of Luhansk, one of two provinces that comprise the eastern Donbas region that the Kremlin has stated it intends to capture.
When Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in late February, the Russian president vowed his forces would not occupy the country. But as the invasion reached its 100th day Friday, Moscow seemed increasingly unwilling to relinquish the territory it has taken in the war.
The ruble is now an official currency in the southern Kherson region, alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia. Residents there and in Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region are being offered expedited Russian passports. The Kremlin-installed administrations in both regions have talked about plans to become part of Russia.
The Moscow-backed leaders of separatist areas in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, which is mostly Russian-speaking, have expressed similar intentions. Putin recognized the separatists' self-proclaimed republics as independent two days before launching the invasion, and fierce fighting has been underway in the east for weeks as Russia seeks to “liberate” all the Donbas. (AP)
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