The Ukrainian president, after visiting Mykolaiv, reached Odessa. “As long as you live, there is a wall,” he told his soldiers. The Ukrainian leader has therefore chosen two strategic centers on the Black Sea. The new mission took place not far from the Kherson region, where Kiev appears to be organizing the next counter-offensive. While Zelensky was on the southern front, Russian missiles fell on his hometown, Kryvyi Rih, in Dnipro oblast. And Russian missiles were launched against Kremenchuk, south-east of Kiev, and against the Odessa region, fired from the Crimea (but shot down by anti-aircraft). But the battle continues especially in the Donbass. “We are preparing for the worst,” says the Lugansk governor.
War Ukraine – Russia, beyond the live: what you need to know today
Russian TV publishes videos of the two missing US veterans
00.15 The governor of Lugansk: “We are preparing for the worst”
The governor of the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine, Serguii Gaidai, says that “We must prepare for the worst.” So he describes the situation in the area: “In Severodonetsk the Russian and Ukrainian forces clash in the streets, while in Lyssychansk the Russian artillery fire is permanent”. In Lysytchansk, there are signs of preparations for street fighting: soldiers are digging holes and mounting barbed wire, and police are placing burnt vehicles across the streets to slow traffic. Life is very hard for 10% of Lyssytchansk residents who remained in the city in cellars, with no telephone network, running water or electricity. “We try to convince them to leave”, but “some categorically refuse”. And only a “small percentage” hope that Moscow will transform the region into a “Russian world.”
00.06 1.9 million people evacuated from Ukraine to Russia
Russia has evacuated over 1.9 million people, including 307,000 minors, from Ukraine since the start of the “special military operation”. This was announced by the head of the Russian National Defense Management Center, Mijaìl Mìzintsev, collected today by the Sputnik agency. Today alone, “without the participation of the Ukrainian authorities, 29,733 people from dangerous areas” and the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republics and Donbas Lugansk have been evacuated.
00.00 The Pentagon evaluates the sending of another 4 rocket launchers
The Pentagon is considering sending four more Himars rocket launchers to Ukraine. Politico writes it. The decision will be “based on Ukraine’s immediate needs,” a military source said. The handover, another official said, is expected to take place quickly. The US has already sent 4 rocket launchers to Kiev.