Once a day, NU.nl gives you an overview of the situation in Ukraine. This time: according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia has occupied about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory. In addition, the United Kingdom will also send multiple missile systems to Ukraine, following the lead of the United States.
Zelensky also said that 60-100 people die every day in eastern Ukraine. 450 to 500 people are also injured.
In this region, Ukrainian forces are fighting fiercely with Russian forces trying to take over the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. Severodonetsk, an important city in the area, is now largely controlled by the Russian army.
“We have to defend ourselves against almost the entire Russian army. All combat-ready Russian military formations are involved in this aggression,” Zelensky said.
Russian missile strikes hit transport infrastructure near Lviv
Russian missiles hit several targets in western Ukraine on Wednesday evening, the head of the military administration in the Lviv region reported on Thursday via the Telegram message service. The Russians mainly focus on the transport infrastructure in the region, according to the military official.
The attack was near the city of Lviv, at least five people were injured.
Russian missiles hit a train tunnel south of the city, among other things. This complicates the delivery of weapons and fuel to Ukrainian troops. Lviv plays an important role in transport.
–
–
–
United Kingdom also sends advanced missile systems
Following the lead of the United States, the United Kingdom will also send multiple missile systems to Ukraine. These are M270 launchers that can hit targets up to 80 kilometers away. “That will be a significant boost to the capacity of the Ukrainian armed forces,” the British Foreign Office reported.
The main purpose of these missile systems is to help the Ukrainian army defend itself against the long-range artillery used by Russian troops “to destroy cities”, Defense Minister Ben Wallace said. Ukrainian troops will be trained in the UK on how to use the launchers.
EU removes Russian church leader from oil boycott sanctions list
The European Union removes the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church from the sanctions list, so that Hungary also agrees to the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, EU sources report. The country refused to sign the deal as long as Patriarch Kirill was blacklisted.
The EU countries reached in the night from Monday to Tuesday an agreement on a sixth sanctions package due to the war in Ukraine. A partial ban on oil from Russia was part of that. In addition, some Russians were placed on a blacklist.
One of them was Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia. He glorifies war and is a staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian economy visibly affected by sanctions
The Russian economy is visibly affected by the international sanctions against Russia and the massive boycott of the country by Western companies. New figures from Russia’s Ministry of Economy indicate an economic contraction of 3 percent in April. In March, growth was still 1.3%.
Massive panic buying by Russians in the weeks following the invasion of Ukraine initially obscured the economic blow of Western punitive measures. But after those first weeks, inflation started to rise and life suddenly became much more expensive for Russians.
As a result, Russian households bought less and started saving more.
–
