President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed that Ukrainian forces’ “heroic defense” of the Donbas region will continue despite being outnumbered and outgunned by the invading Russian military, as fierce street fighting continued for the control of the key city of Syevyerdonetsk.
“Our soldiers are successfully holding back the assault in the city of Syevyerodonetsk,” the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said on June 8, adding its troops were also holding off attacks in Toshkyvka and Ustynyvka to the south.
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The Luhansk region’s governor, Serhiy Hayday, said that Lysychansk, which is across the river from Syevyerodonetsk, was also being shelled.
The reports could not be immediately verified.
The strategic city of Syevyerodonetsk is currently the target of Russia’s assault after their forces were repelled from other parts of Ukraine following the February invasion.
“The occupiers did not believe that the resistance of our military would be so strong,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address late on June 7. “The absolutely heroic defense of Donbas continues,” he said.
Intense street fighting has raged in Syevyerodonetsk for days, with the situation on the ground changing rapidly.
Russia claimed on June 7 that residential areas in Syevyerodonetsk had been “fully liberated” while Ukrainian forces still held the industrial zone and surrounding settlements.
But the British Defense Ministry said on June 8 that It is unlikely that either side had gained “significant ground” in the last 24 hours.
The Ukrainian defenses are holding, the ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin, despite Russia’s continued assault on the city from three directions.
The British intelligence report assessed that Russian forces have been solely concentrating their offensive on the central Donbas sector and have remained on the defensive on its flanks.
The report also said Ukrainians had even achieved some success recently “by counterattacking in the southwestern Kherson region, including regaining a foothold on the eastern bank of the Ingulets River.”
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In Kyiv, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said the World Bank had approved a $1.49 billion tranche of funding for Ukraine.
“Funding will be used to pay wages for social workers & civil servants. Ukraine’s recovery & victory will be the victory of democracy & whole civilized world,” Shmygal wrote on Twitter.
The Washington-based lending arm of the International Monetary Fund has now pledged more than $4 billion in support for Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.
Meanwhile, Russian news agency TASS reported that more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner in the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for investigation.
“More than 1,000 people from Azovstal were brought to Russia. Law enforcement organs are working with them closely,” TASS quoted a law enforcement source as saying.
Zelenskiy said on June 8 he spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about concerns over the treatment of prisoners of war by Russia.
“Discussed enhancing defense support for Ukraine & ensuring global food security. Raised the issue of Russia’s compliance with international rules of treatment of war prisoners. Stressed the importance of decisions on the integration of Ukraine in the EU,” he said on Twitter on June 8.
Zelenskiy did not give further details on the phone call.
Ukraine is seeking the handover of all the estimated 2,000 fighters from the Azovstal plant in a prisoner swap, but Russian lawmakers have demanded that some of the soldiers be put on trial.
Zelenskiy said the Russians’ intentions regarding those prisoners were changing constantly.
On June 7, footage emerged of three men, reported to be Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim, in what appears to be a court dock in territory held by Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The three are reportedly charged with being mercenaries, although their families say they were in Ukraine’s military.
It is feared that a separatist court, which is not internationally recognized, could condemn the three to death if it finds them guilty.
The bodies of some Ukrainian fighters killed during the siege of Azovstal have been returned by the Russian forces to Ukraine, the Association of Families of Azovstal Defenders said.
The association said forensic examination of the bodies may take up to three months. Relatives of the victims are participating in identification procedures.
The Ukrainian military said the Russians had handed over 210 bodies of Ukrainian troops, most of whom who died defending the city of Mariupol from Russian forces at the vast steel works.
