Russia-Ukraine live: Moscow says Donbas’s ‘liberation’ a priority | Russia-Ukraine war News
Lavrov’s comments came as Russia is intensifying its attack around the key city Sievierodonetsk in the east.
- The “liberation” of Ukraine’s Donbas is an “unconditional priority” for Moscow, while other Ukrainian territories should decide their future on their own, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
- Ukrainian forces endured heavy artillery barrages as they held off Russian attempts to capture Sievierodonetsk, the largest city Ukraine still controls in the eastern region of Luhansk, officials say.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits troops on the front line in Ukraine’s war-torn northeastern Kharkiv region, his first official appearance outside the capital Kyiv since the war started.
- The Ukrainian leader fired Kharkiv’s security services chief for “not working on the defence of the city” since the start of Russia’s invasion.
- No agreement among European Union’s members has been reached over an embargo on Russian oil, an EU official told Reuters news agency.
Here are the latest updates:
No EU deal on Russian oil embargo yet; more talks on Monday
European Union governments have failed to reach an agreement on an embargo on Russian oil, but will continue negotiations on Monday morning, an EU official told the Reuters news agency.
The proposal under discussion now among EU countries assumes a ban on Russian oil delivered to the EU by sea by the end of the year, but foresees an exemption for oil delivered by the Russian Druzhba pipeline, which supplies Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech republic.
Top Kharkiv official fired over city’s defence: Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy says he fired Kharkiv’s security services chief for “not working on the defence of the city” since the start of Russia’s invasion.
“I came, figured out and fired the head of the Security Service of Ukraine of the (Kharkiv) region for the fact that he did not work on the defence of the city from the first days of the full-scale war, but thought only about himself,” Zelensky said in his daily national address.
He spoke after visiting the country’s war-ridden east for the first time since Russia’s invasion.
The battle for Sievierodonetsk
Russian forces stormed Sievierodonetsk after trying unsuccessfully to encircle the strategic city, Ukrainian officials said, creating a situation that Zelenskyy described as “indescribably difficult”. He said a relentless Russian artillery barrage had destroyed the town’s critical infrastructure and damaged 90 percent of its buildings.
“Capturing Sievierodonetsk is a principal task for the occupation force,” Zelenskyy said, adding that the Russians don’t care about casualties.
The deteriorating conditions raised fears that Sieverodonetsk could become the next Mariupol, a city on the Sea of Azov that spent nearly three months under Russian siege before the last Ukrainian fighters surrendered.
Ukraine’s Donbas ‘unconditional priority’ for Moscow: Lavrov
The “liberation” of Ukraine’s Donbas is an “unconditional priority” for Moscow, while other Ukrainian territories should decide their future on their own, the RIA news agency cited Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.
“The liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, recognised by the Russian Federation as independent states, is an unconditional priority,” Lavrov said in an interview with French TV channel TF1, according to RIA.
For the rest of the territories in Ukraine, “the people should decide their future in these areas,” he said.
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Go here for all the updates from Saturday, May 28.
