By Natalia Zinets
KIEV (Reuters) – Russian forces bombed Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region on Saturday but failed to capture three areas they were targeting, the Ukrainian army said, while Moscow said Western sanctions on Russia and arms shipments to Ukraine hamper peace negotiations.
The Russians are trying to capture the areas of Lyman, in Donetsk, and Sievierodonetsk and Popasna, in Luhansk, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a daily update. “They’re not succeeding – the fight continues,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement published earlier on Saturday that the lifting of Western-imposed sanctions on Russia was part of peace talks, which he said were difficult but continued daily by videoconference.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has insisted since the Russian invasion began on February 24 that sanctions must be strengthened, and cannot be part of the negotiations. He said on Friday that there is a risk that negotiations will be terminated over what he calls the “Russian handbook for murdering people”.
Ukraine accuses Russian troops of atrocities in areas near the capital Kiev that were previously occupied. Moscow rejects the charges.
Lavrov said that if the United States and other countries in the Western military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are truly interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis, they should stop sending weapons to Kiev.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Zelenskiy during a meeting on Saturday that his country would step up military and humanitarian support for Ukraine.
In Washington, US President Joe Biden’s proposal for a $33 billion aid package for Ukraine, including $20 billion for weapons, received support from both parties. Speaker of the country’s House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said on Friday that she hopes Congress will pass the package as soon as possible.
Russia classifies its actions in Ukraine as a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say the charge of fascism is baseless and that the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.
The war turned cities to rubble, killed thousands and forced 5 million Ukrainians to leave the country. After failing to capture the capital Kiev, Russia is focusing on Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions.
Moscow hopes to regain full control of the eastern Donbas region, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk, parts of the country that were already controlled by Russian-backed separatists before the invasion.
The Russian government said on Saturday that its artillery units had hit 389 Ukrainian targets overnight.
(Additional reporting by Reuters journalists)
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