Ukraine-Russia war: Severodetsk ‘fully occupied’ by Russian army
Severodonetsk has been “fully occupied” by the Russian army with the Ukrainian army withdrawing its forces to better defend the neighbouring city of Lysychansk.
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Russia’s army has “fully occupied” the key Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk after weeks of fighting, its mayor said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to send nuclear-capable missiles to Belarus within months.
As the war enters its fifth month, the capture of Severodonetsk marks an important strategic win for Moscow, which is seeking to gain full control over the east of the country after failing in its early objectives.
The industrial hub was the scene of weeks of running battles before the Ukrainian army began withdrawing its outgunned forces to better defend the neighbouring city of Lysychansk.
“The city has been fully occupied by the Russians,” Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said.
A few hours earlier, pro-Moscow separatists said Russian troops and their allies had entered Lysychansk, which faces Severodonetsk on high ground across the Donets river. Its capture would give Russia control of the entire Lugansk region of the Donbas.
“Street fighting is currently taking place,” a representative of the separatists, Andrei Marochko, said on Telegram, in a claim that could not be independently verified.
Far from the embattled Donbas, meanwhile, a flurry of Russian missiles was striking targets in northern and western Ukraine.
“More than 50 missiles of various types were fired: air, sea and ground-based,” Ukraine’s air force command said, noting the difficulty of intercepting Russian models such as the Iskander.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will address G7 leaders on Monday, said cities as far away as Lviv, near the Polish border, had been struck.
“This confirms ... that Ukraine needs more assistance with weapons, and that air defence systems -- the modern systems which our partners have -- should not be on the sites or in storage, but in Ukraine,” he said in his daily address.
In Saint Petersburg on Saturday, Putin said Russia would deliver Iskander-M missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the coming months, as he received Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
He also offered to upgrade Belarus’ warplanes to make them capable of carrying nuclear weapons, in comments broadcast on Russian television.
Putin has referred to nuclear weapons several times since his country invaded Ukraine on February 24, in what the West has seen as a warning to the West not to intervene.
Ukraine said it had come under “massive bombardment” Saturday morning from neighbouring Belarus which, although a Russian ally, is not officially involved in the conflict.
Twenty rockets “fired from the territory of Belarus and from the air” targeted the village of Desna in the northern Chernigiv region, Ukraine’s northern military command said.
It said infrastructure was hit, but no casualties had yet been reported. Belarus has provided logistic support to Moscow since its February 24 invasion, particularly in the first few weeks, and like Russia has been targeted by Western sanctions.
“Today’s strike is directly linked to Kremlin efforts to pull Belarus as a co-belligerent into the war in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian intelligence service said.
Russia’s weekend breakthrough in Severodonetsk came on the eve of a week of feverish Western diplomacy, as US President Joe Biden flew to Europe for a G7 summit that starts Sunday, and NATO talks later in the week.
“Ukraine can win and it will win, but they need our backing to do so,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a statement on the eve of the summit.
“Now is not the time to give up on Ukraine.” The Western allies will take stock of the effectiveness of sanctions imposed so far against Moscow, consider possible new aid for Ukraine, and begin turning their eye to longer-term reconstruction plans.
The European Union offered a strong show of support on Thursday when it granted Ukraine candidate status, although the path to membership is long.
While millions of Ukrainians have fled their homes and their country since the invasion, most to neighbouring Poland, some foreigners have gone the other way to fight.
Russia has also intensified its offensive in the northern city of Kharkiv in recent days.
FAILED FRIENDLY FIRE MISSILE ATTACK
Astonishing footage has emerged of a failed missile attack that saw Russian troops who fired the volley targeted with their own friendly fire.
The video purports to show an air defence missile launched in the Luhansk region, the scene of the most intense fighting of the current battle where Russia is suffering a 55 per cent casualty rate and Ukraine is facing encirclement.
In the early hours near Alchevsk, south of Severodonetsk, the missile make a wide arc to its left before homing in on the position it’s fired from and smashing down with a huge explosion.
The video has not been verified. Several unverified videos claiming to have been taken in Ukraine have later been revealed to be taken from previous conflicts or even video games.
Local media, however, reported the missile likely came from a Russian SAM. If confirmed, it would be similar to an incident in 2018 when a US Patriot missile made a U-turn in Saudi Arabia.
While it was said to have exploded on the outskirts of a residential area, there have been no confirmed casualties among either Russian troops, separatist fighters, or civilians.
Footage of a (reportedly) Russian SAM malfunction in Alchevsk, eastern #Ukraine (🇺🇦).
— Aerospace Intelligence (@space_osint) June 24, 2022
The missile made a direct u-turn into the launch area. A similar incident occurred with a Patriot missile in Saudi Arabia (🇸🇦) back in 2018. pic.twitter.com/JSnxqNpqoA
‘HISTORIC’ MOMENT FOR UKRAINE
Union leaders have granted “candidate status” to Ukraine in its bid to join the bloc, as tensions deepened over Russian gas supplies and Moscow’s forces closed in on key cities.
Russia is focusing its offensive on the eastern Donbas region, after being pushed back from Kyiv following their February invasion, and its troops are making steady advances despite fierce Ukrainian resistance.
In a show of support, European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to grant candidate status to Ukraine, as well as Moldova, although the two former Soviet republics face a long path before joining the bloc.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the news as “a unique and historic moment”, adding: “Ukraine’s future is within the EU.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the decision by EU leaders sent a “very strong signal” to Russia that Europeans support the pro-Western aspirations of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin had declared Ukraine to be part of Moscow’s sphere and insisted he was acting due to attempts to bring the country into NATO, the Western alliance that comes with security guarantees.
European powers before the invasion had distanced themselves from US support for Ukraine’s NATO aspirations and EU membership is at least years away.
Ukraine and Moldova will have to go through protracted negotiations and the European Union has laid out steps that Kyiv must take even before that, including bolstering the rule of law and fighting corruption.
UKRAINE PLANS RETREAT FROM KEY CITY
Ukraine may pull back from key cities on the eastern front to avoid “encirclement” after Russia captured several villages in the Donbas.
The enemy’s advance deeper into the region comes despite the UK Ministry of Defence estimating a massive casualty rates of 55 per cent of thief total fighting force, “which highlights the extraordinary attrition rate Russian and pro-Russian forces are suffering in the Donbas.”
“On both sides, the ability to generate and deploy reserve units to the front is likely becoming increasingly critical to the outcome of the war,” the British Defence Ministry said.
The governor of Ukraine’s eastern region, Serhiy Gaidai, said Ukraine may have to retreat from the twin cities of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk, the last two Ukrainian-held cities in Luhansk.
The cities, which are divided by a river, have become the flashpoint where officials are expecting a “fierce climax” following Russia’s capture of Rai-Oleksandrivka and Loskutivka, around 5 km from Lysychansk,
“In order to avoid encirclement, our command could order that the troops retreat to new positions,” Mr Gaidai said on national television. “All of Lysychansk is within reach of their fire. It is very dangerous in the city.”
Gaiday added that Russian forces were working to capture Severodonetsk, an industrial town with a pre-war population of around 100,000 where Ukrainian and Russian troops have been fighting in a brutal standoff for weeks.
He said Moscow’s army was “conducting offensive operations to encircle our troops in the Lysychansk area, and are blocking the Lysychansk-Bakhmut route,” a key lifeline out of the embattled area.
“Severodonetsk is being destroyed, all positions of our forces are shelled around the clock,” he said.
The Russians are “storming Syrotyne,” he added, referring to a settlement directly adjacent to Severodonetsk’s southern edges.
The resistance of Ukrainian forces defending the twin cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk — the site of fierce weeks-long fighting — is “futile”, a representative of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine told AFP on Thursday.
“Their resistance is pointless and futile. I think that at the rate our soldiers are going, very soon the whole territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic will be liberated,” said Andrei Marochko, a spokesman for the army of Lugansk, a pro-Russian breakaway region in eastern Ukraine.
According to Marochko, Lysychansk is practically surrounded as Russian forces and their separatist allies are now controlling the main supply route to the city.
“We have full logistical control,” he said, a day after separatists claimed to have encircled the neighbouring village of Zolote and Hirske.
PUTIN’S ‘SATAN-2’ NUCLEAR MISSILES READY SOON
Vladimir Putin has spruiked that his country is only months away from being ready to deploy its newest nuclear missile, known as “Satan-2”.
The Russian leader, while speaking to graduates of the country’s military academy, said the 14-storey-tall long-range RS-29 Sarmat missile would be no match for the rest of the world, The New York Post reported.
“The Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully tested. It is planned that by the end of this year, the first such complex will be put on combat duty,” Mr Putin told graduates in Moscow.
He has previously described the weapon as a missile that “can break through all modern anti-missile defences”.
“There is nothing like this anywhere in the world, and won’t be for a long time,” he added.
Russia is planning to have 50 of the new missiles – dubbed “Satan-2” but NATO – according to Dmitry Rogozin, who is the head of Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos.
The Satan-2 has an estimated range of about 9000km to almost 20,000km and can carry 15 nuclear warheads – which could flatten an area the size of the UK in a single strike.
During Mr Putin’s talk to the graduates he said his government was committed to modernising and strengthening the country’s armed forces against “potential military threats and risks”, The New York Post reported.
“Among the priority areas is equipping the troops with new weapon systems that will determine the combat effectiveness of the army and navy in the years and decades to come,” he said.
He also praised the Russian military’s efforts in Ukraine, saying they were acting “courageously, professionally, like real heroes”.
UKRAINIAN CITY UNDER ‘MASSIVE’ RUSSIAN BOMBARDMENT
“Massive” Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s battleground eastern Lugansk region and key city Severodonetsk has been “hell” for defending soldiers who are trying to hold on “as long as necessary”, Kyiv said.
Moscow’s troops have been pummelling eastern Ukraine for weeks and are slowly advancing, despite fierce resistance from the outgunned Ukrainian military.
With President Vladimir Putin’s forces tightening their grip on the strategically important city of Severodonetsk in the Donbas, its twin city of Lysychansk is now coming under heavier bombardment.
“The Russian army is … just destroying everything” in Lysychansk, Sergiy Gaiday, governor of the Lugansk region, which includes both cities, wrote on Telegram.
“It’s just hell out there,” after four months of shelling in Severodonetsk, across the Donets river, he wrote later.
“Our boys are holding their positions and will continue to hold on as long as necessary.”
Pro-Russian separatists claimed they were close to surrounding both Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.
“Over the past several days enormous work has been accomplished,” Andrei Marochko, an officer in the separatist army of Lugansk, told Russian state TV.
RUSSIA-LITHUANIA TENSIONS OVER BLOCKED RAIL
On the Russian side, officials said Wednesday two drones had hit an oil refinery in the Ukraine-bordering Rostov region, causing an explosion and a fire but no casualties.
Away from the battlefield, Moscow summoned Brussels’ ambassador in a dispute with EU member Lithuania over the country’s restrictions on rail traffic to the Russian outpost of Kaliningrad.
The territory is around 1600km from Moscow, bordering Lithuania and Poland.
By blocking goods arriving from Russia, Lithuania says it is simply adhering to European Union-wide sanctions on Moscow.
The United States made clear its commitment to Lithuania as an ally in NATO, which considers an attack against one member an attack on all.
And Germany urged Russia not to “violate international law” by retaliating against Lithuania.
Also Wednesday, a Turkish cargo ship left the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol on Ukraine’s Sea of Azov coast.
Although Moscow and Ankara have negotiated for weeks over getting millions of tonnes of desperately needed grain out of the war zone to worse-off countries in Africa and the Middle East, it was not immediately clear whether the Azov Concord was carrying wheat.
Turkey’s defence ministry said four-way talks would be held “in the coming weeks” between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN, with media reporting the meeting could happen next week.
SECOND AMERICAN KILLED IN UKRAINE WAR
With US-Russia tensions soaring, the State Department on Tuesday confirmed a second American, 52-year-old Stephen Zabielski, was killed fighting for Ukraine.
A White House spokesman, John Kirby, voiced alarm at Russian statements that it would not apply the Geneva Conventions on the humane treatment of prisoners to two other Americans captured last week, calling suggestions of a death sentence “appalling”.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in an investigation published Wednesday that a Ukrainian photojournalist, Maks Levin, had been killed and possibly tortured by Russian troops after his capture on March 13.
In Brussels, ministers unanimously agreed Tuesday to grant Ukraine and neighbour Moldova candidate status for membership in the European Union.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told parliament in Berlin on Wednesday that Ukraine “needs a Marshall Plan for its reconstruction”, a reference to the post-World War II aid from Washington that helped a devastated Europe get back on its feet.
Scholz added that Ukraine and Russia were “still far from negotiations … because Putin still believes in the possibility of a dictated peace”, urging Kyiv’s Western allies to keep up their military and financial support.
Moscow meanwhile complained that its delegates to an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) assembly in Britain next month had been refused UK visas.
The Kremlin was Wednesday turning to other members of the so-called “BRICS” grouping that also includes Brazil, India, China and South Africa.
Russia is “actively redirecting its trade flows and external economic contacts towards reliable international partners, above all the BRICS countries,” Putin told a business forum by video link ahead of a virtual leaders’ summit Thursday.
UKRAINE BLASTS RUSSIAN FORCES ON SNAKE ISLAND
The armed forces of Ukraine have launched air strikes on Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, with Russian forces suffering “significant losses”.
In a post on Facebook, the military’s southern operational command said it had used “aimed strikes with the use of various forces” on the island.
“The military operation continues and requires information silence until it is over,” the South Operational Command said.
“Our units continue to destroy the enemy and push them back to the east. This morning a pair of helicopters has struck a group of enemy troops and military equipment. Rocket and artillery units completed more than 100 fire missions.
“The results are yet to be checked, but, as of this morning, it is already known that 26 rashists were eliminated. One enemy tank, one multipurpose armoured tracked vehicle, three armoured vehicles and four trucks will no longer harm the Ukrainian people.”
The island has a strategic location off the coast of Ukraine and Romania, and Moscow says Ukraine’s forces have tried to recapture it several times.
Mother of 27-year old Artem Damyd who was killed defending Ukraine from Russian invasion in Donbas sang her last lullaby at her son's funeral in Lviv pic.twitter.com/kGqFtsVlxc
— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) June 21, 2022
It comes as hundreds gathered in Lviv for the funeral of Artem Dymyd, who was killed defending Ukraine in the Donetsk region on June 18.
The 27-year-old was living in the US when Russian forces first invaded his homeland, which saw him return back to the Ukraine and fight for his country.
US WARNS RUSSIA OVER WAR CRIMES
The US has pledged to help Ukrainian authorities prosecute war crimes committed during the Russian invasion.
“I’m here to express the unwavering support of the United States for the people of Ukraine in the midst of the unprovoked and unjust Russian invasion,” US Attorney-General Merrick Garland told reporters during a surprise visit to Ukraine on Tuesday.
Garland announced the launch of a War Crimes Accountability Team headed by Eli Rosenbaum, a 36-year veteran of the Justice Department who previously led US efforts to identify and deport Nazi war criminals.
“America – and the world – has seen the many horrific images and read the heart-wrenching accounts of brutality and death that have resulted from Russia’s unjust invasion of Ukraine,” Garland said in a statement after meeting Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova at Krakovets on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
“There is no hiding place for war criminals. The US Justice Department will pursue every avenue of accountability for those who commit war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine,” he said.
Venediktova thanked Garland for his support, calling it “very important.” “We all understand that we have huge enemies,” she said.
Garland made the unannounced stop in Ukraine on his way to a US-EU justice and home affairs ministerial meeting this week in Paris.
Nearly four months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Kyiv has reportedly identified roughly 16,000 alleged war crimes by Russian troops. Multiple nations and international organisations have also launched investigations into alleged Russian crimes.
Most notorious have been the allegations of wanton murder of scores of civilians in Bucha, just outside the Ukrainian capital. The International Criminal Court (ICC) opened its largest investigation ever into alleged war crimes in late May.
The ICC is working in a Join Investigation Team alongside Ukrainian, Polish and Lithuanian prosecutors. The European Union’s legal branch, Eurojust, is also participating in the effort. The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) also opened an inquiry into alleged Russian war crimes in mid-May.
The HRC held a special session to address Ukraine’s allegations that Russian troops had committed atrocities against civilians during their withdrawal from areas surrounding Kyiv. The HRC voted 33-2 in favour of opening the inquiry, with 12 abstentions. China and Eritrea were the only nations to vote against the measure.
War crime allegations arose after the Russian withdrawal from around Kyiv revealed that Bucha, a town in the area, saw Russian troops kill as many as 400 citizens and force others to dig mass graves.
The US, UK and other NATO allies have denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal. US President Joe Biden called for Putin to face a war crime trial in early April.
“This guy is brutal. What is happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone has seen it – I think it is a war crime,” Biden said in April.
“Civilians executed in cold blood, bodies dumped into mass graves, the sense of brutality and inhumanity left for all the world to see, unapologetically.
“There’s nothing less happening than major war crimes.
“Responsible nations have to come together to hold these perpetrators accountable.”
The US State Department announced the creation of a new unit in May to research, document and publicise alleged war crimes by Russia in Ukraine
WHAT BEN STILLER SAID WHEN HE MET ZELENSKYY
Hollywood A-lister Ben Stiller has met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
The Zoolander actor, 56, is in the war-torn country as a UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency Goodwill Ambassador and met with Mr Zelenskyy on Monday after inspecting occupied settlements in the Kyiv region.
In a video shared widely on social media, Stiller and Mr Zelenskyy shook hands and greeted each other with smiles before they sat down to discuss the plight of Ukrainians forced to flee their homes.
At one point, Stiller told the brave leader: “You’re my hero!”.
He later shared a post on Twitter saying he was honoured to meet Mr Zelenskyy.
It was an honour to meet President @ZelenskyyUa on #WorldRefugeeDay as part of my visit with UNHCR @Refugees to stand in solidarity with people forced to flee in Ukraine and worldwide, and bring more attention to the humanitarian situation. @Refugees#WithRefugeespic.twitter.com/zpNpva233j
— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) June 20, 2022
Stiller walked through the remains of residential areas of Irpin and met with survivors.
“It’s one thing to see this destruction on TV or on social networks. Another thing is to see it all with your own eyes. That’s a lot more shocking,” Stiller told Mr Zelensksyy.
“What you saw in Irpin is definitely dreadful. But it is even worse to just imagine what is happening in the settlements that are still under temporary occupation in the east,” Mr Zelenskyy said in response.
On Sunday, Stiller was filmed in Lviv speaking with UN workers after meeting with families who fled the war in Ukraine at the Medyka border between Poland and Ukraine.
“At the Medyka border in Poland I met families who fled the war in Ukraine, leaving loved ones behind, with no idea when they will be able to return home.
I’m so impressed w/@refugees representatives & how committed they are to supporting people on their journeys,” Stiller said in a post on Twitter ending with #WithRefugees.
The post was accompanied by an image of the actor being embraced by two young children.
The UNHCR also shared a photo of the actor meeting with Marina, a woman who fled Kharkiv with her children.
“In Rzeszow, Poland I met Marina who fled Kharkiv, Ukraine with her children and has no idea when they'll be able to go home.
— UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) June 19, 2022
The only thing that will guarantee Marina sees her loved ones again is peace.â€
~ UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador @BenStillerpic.twitter.com/6zoySO5ET3
Stiller’s father, the late comedian and actor Jerry Stiller, was from a Jewish family that emigrated to the US from Poland and Galicia in Central Europe.
Fans praised Stiller for making the trip to highlight the plight of refugees.
“Ben your Dad would be so proud of you!,” wrote one fan.
Another: “Now I love you even more (heart emoji) thank you with all my Polish-Ukrainian heart :)”.
WATCH MOMENT MISSILE HITS RUSSIAN CHOPPER
Video footage has emerged showing the moment a Russian helicopter was shot down by Ukraine.
It is understood a Russian colonel – Lieutenant-Colonel Sergey Gundorov – was killed when the low-flying helicopter was blasted from the sky by a Ukrainian soldier.
The helicopter went down in a ball of flames in a field near Volnovakha in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region – where a lot of fighting has taken place in recent weeks.
A second helicopter was also reportedly targeted but escaped after firing decoy flares, The Sun reports.
Lt-Col Gundorov is believed to the 55th Russian colonel to die in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
A Russian account of his death said: “Bright eternal memory to the Hero who left on his last flight. Pilots don’t die, they fly into the sky … The best men are leaving us”.
PUTIN STEPPING UP ATTACKS AHEAD OF EU DECISION
Russian forces have stepped up their shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, Kyiv said on Monday, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned to expect greater hostilities ahead of a historic EU decision on Ukraine’s bid for candidate status.
Nearly four months after Russia launched a bloody invasion of his country, Mr Zelenskyy said there had been “few such fateful decisions for Ukraine” as the one it expects from the European Union this week.
“Obviously, we expect Russia to intensify hostile activity this week … We are preparing. We are ready,” he said.
Combat is currently fierce in the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, according to Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai, with the village of Metyolkine falling to the Russians.
Russian shelling and air strikes on the industrial outskirts of Severodonetsk have intensified,
Haidai told The Associated Press.
The situation is “very difficult,” he said, with Ukrainian forces still holding the Azot chemical plant, where a number of Ukrainian fighters, along with about 500 civilians, are taking shelter.
The Russians are applying more pressure, deploying additional troops and equipment in the area, said Mr Haidai.
“It’s just hell there. Everything is engulfed in fire, the shelling doesn’t stop even for an hour.”
On the ground, Russia appeared to be making some battlefield advances in the east, with Ukraine’s presidency reported heavier Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region in the northeast.
In the Donetsk region, the intensity of the attacks “is growing along the entire frontline” it said, leaving at least one person dead and injuring seven people, including a child.
Moscow’s forces have for weeks been battling to seize the eastern Donbas region, after being repelled from other parts of the country.
AUSTRALIA SENDS MORE MILITARY AID TO UKRAINE
Australia has dialled up its military aid to Ukraine, with four of the 14 promised armoured vehicles en route to the war-torn nation.
The M113AS4s were loaded into a Ukrainian aircraft at RAAF Base Amberley in southeast Queensland last week.
Donned with a fresh coat of paint and stickers declaring Australia is “united with Ukraine”, the shipment is part of the government’s $285m package of military aid.
But Defence Minister Richard Marles has indicated Australia could provide further military and humanitarian aid.
“We will continue to look at ways we can best help the people of Ukraine. Australia stands with Ukraine and again calls on Russia to cease its unprovoked, unjust and illegal invasion of Ukraine,” he said.
Ukraine ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko welcomed the efforts but said more support was always welcome.
“The weapons already provided so far … were extremely helpful,” he told Nine.
“Everyday we see 100 Ukrainian soldiers killed, 400 wounded. For every Ukrainian shell, we get 10 Russian shells. We are running out of ammunition.”
Anthony Albanese said the latest shipment of military assistance responded to a direct request for additional vehicles by Ukraine’s Defence Minister.
“Australia, like many nations, condemns the continuing unwarranted aggression of Russia against the people of Ukraine,” the Prime Minister said.
“Our nation has stood by Ukraine since the beginning of this unlawful conflict and we are proud to be able to provide access to significant capabilities such as the armoured personnel carriers that have travelled in the past week.”
Mr Albanese is weighing up an invitation from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit Kyiv later this month.
Mr Zelenskyy extended the invitation in a handwritten letter congratulating the Labor leader on his election win.
Asked last week if he would take up the offer, which would coincide with his attendance at the NATO summit in Madrid, Mr Albanese said he was taking “appropriate advice”.
“I will take appropriate advice and obviously there are security issues as well in terms of such a visit,” he said on Friday.
“I appreciate the spirit in which it has been offered.”
UKRAINE WAR COULD LAST YEARS: NATO CHIEF
NATO’s chief has warned that the war in Ukraine could last “for years” as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed on Sunday his forces would not give up the south of the country to Russia after he visited the frontline there.
Ukraine said it had also repulsed fresh attacks by Russian forces on the eastern front, rocked by weeks of fierce battles as Moscow tries to seize the industrial Donbas region.
While Ukraine remained defiant, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged Western countries must be ready to offer long-term military, political and economic support to Kyiv during a grinding war.
“We must be prepared for this to last for years,” Stoltenberg told German daily newspaper Bild.
“We must not weaken in our support of Ukraine, even if the costs are high – not only in terms of military support but also because of rising energy and food prices.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a similar warning, urging sustained support for Kyiv or risk “the greatest victory for aggression” since World War II.
“Time is now the vital factor,” Mr Johnson wrote in an article for the Sunday Times after making his second visit to Kyiv, calling for the West to ensure Ukraine has the “strategic endurance to survive and eventually prevail”.
Ukraine has repeatedly urged Western countries to step up their deliveries of arms since the February 24 invasion, despite Russian warnings that it could trigger wider conflict.
Mr Zelenskyy made a rare trip outside Kyiv on Saturday to the holdout Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, and visited troops nearby and in the neighbouring Odessa region for the first time since the Russian invasion.
“We will not give away the south to anyone, we will return everything that’s ours and the sea will be Ukrainian and safe,” he said in a video posted on Telegram as he made his way back to Kyiv.
He said he talked with troops and police during his visit.
“Their mood is confident, and looking into their eyes it is obvious that they all do not doubt our victory,” he said.
But Mr Zelenskyy admitted that losses were “significant”, adding: “Many houses were destroyed, civilian logistics were disrupted, there are many social issues.”
Russia said on Sunday it launched missile strikes during the past 24 hours, including some targeting western-delivered weapons in Mykolaiv.
The strikes on a building in the city destroyed “ten 155mm howitzers and around 20 armoured vehicles supplied by the West to the Kyiv regime over the last ten days”, the Russian defence ministry said.
Mykolaiv is a key target for Russia as it lies on the way to the strategic port of Odessa.
With Russia maintaining a blockade of Odessa that has trapped grain supplies and is threatening a global food crisis, Odessa residents have turned their attention to rallying the home front effort.
“Every day, including the weekend, I come to make camouflage netting for the army,” said Natalia Pinchenkova, 49, behind a large Union flag, a show of thanks to Britain for its support for Ukraine.
Germany on Sunday announced emergency measures including increased use of coal to ensure it meets its energy needs after a drop in supply of Russian gas.
Hit by punishing sanctions, Moscow has turned up the pressure on European economies by sharply reducing gas supplies, which has driven up energy prices.
Italian company Eni meanwhile joined a huge Qatari project to expand production from the world’s biggest natural gas field, days after Russia slashed supplies to Italy.
Back in Kyiv, thousands gathered to pay tribute to one young man – Roman Ratushny, a leading figure in Ukraine’s pro-European Maidan movement, who was killed fighting Russians in the country’s east earlier this month aged just 24.
In front of the coffin draped in a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag at the foot of a monument that overlooks the sprawling Independence Square in the capital, people of all ages saluted his memory.
“I think it is important to be here because he is a hero of Ukraine and we must remember him,” Dmytro Ostrovsky, a 17-year-old high school student, told AFP.
The loss put a human face on the shared grief of Ukrainians, as the bloodshed continues.
The worst of the fighting continues to be in the eastern industrial Donbas region, with battles raging in villages outside the city of Severodonetsk, which Russia has been trying to seize for weeks.
“There’s an expression: prepare for the worst and the best will come by itself,” the governor of the eastern Lugansk region, Sergiy Gaiday, told AFP in an interview from the Ukrainian-controlled city of Lysychansk across the river from Severodonetsk.
“Of course, we need to prepare,” he said, wearing a flak jacket and carrying gun cartridges and a tourniquet.
Ukraine’s armed forces said Sunday they had pushed back Russian attacks on villages near Severodonetsk.
“Our units repulsed the assault in the area of Toshkivka,” the Ukrainian army said on Facebook, adding that Russian forces were also “storming” towards the village of Orikhove.
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