On day 106 of the war, Russian and Ukrainian troops battle for control of Severodonetsk. Moscow points out that the local forces would have retreated there and that the Lugansk region “will soon be liberated”. For its part, kyiv affirms that its troops advanced this Thursday, June 9, and could win the battle in the city, one of the few still in its hands in that province, if they soon obtain long-range Western weapons. The evacuation of civilians is now “impossible”, highlights the regional governor.
The silence in Severodonetsk lasts only when weapons are reloaded. This is how Serhiy Haidai, governor of the self-proclaimed republic of Lugansk, to which the city belongs, described it this Thursday, June 6.
The course of the conflict in the entire Donbass region depends on their control, admitted President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose troops assure that they are advancing for the domain of the city, despite the fact that the pro-Russians affirm that the Ukrainians would have left the airport and would have taken refuge in a nearby forest.
These are the main news of the 106th day of the war in Ukraine:
- 08:07 (BOG) Nearly five million Ukrainians have registered as refugees in Europe
According to the latest update of figures from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), a total of 4,816,923 Ukrainians have been registered as refugees in 44 European countries, since Russia launched the war against Ukraine on February 24.
United Nations data shows that as of June 7, more than 7.3 million border crossings out of Ukraine had been recorded, but another 2.3 million journeys back into the country had occurred.
Women and children make up 90% of those who have fled abroad, as Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are eligible for military service and cannot leave the country.
The ongoing war has “caused one of the world’s largest human displacement crises,” UNHCR stressed.
- 7:12 (BOG) Kyiv claims it regained ground in Kherson
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry noted that its forces recaptured part of the territory that was in the hands of Russian troops in a counteroffensive in the Kherson area, in the south of the country.
The ministry said Russian forces had “suffered losses in manpower and equipment” and mined land while being forced back. This information has not been independently verified.
The UK MoD’s daily intelligence report, meanwhile, states that although the main fighting “continues in the Severodonetsk pocket, in the past 48 hours it is likely that Russia’s Eastern Group of Forces have also increased their efforts.” to advance south of Izium.”
- 06:33 (BOG) Moscow says it does not anticipate further gas cuts to its European customers
Vladimir Putin’s government maintained that state-owned Gazprom is not scheduled to cut gas supplies to more buying countries in Europe.
He also stressed that his scheme to make interested parties pay for their hydrocarbons in rubles is working as planned.
The Kremlin’s biggest gas company has cut supplies to some European countries for refusing to pay in Russian currency, under a new guideline set out by Moscow in response to Western sanctions.
- 06:15 (BOG) Russia: No deal with Turkey on Ukraine grain exports
The Kremlin reported that it has not reached any agreement with the Turkish government on the export of Ukrainian grain shipments through the Black Sea.
However, the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitry Peskov, assured the local press that the work continues.
Ankara has been pushing for a pact between Moscow and kyiv on a plan to resume grain exports from Ukrainian ports. However, the prospects for a deal look bleak, with each side blaming each other for disrupting the world’s food supply.
“Millions may starve” due to grain delivery problems, warned President Volodímir Zelenski, in a speech on the night of Wednesday, June 8.
- 5:58 (BOG) Evacuations in Severodonetsk are “impossible”
According to the mayor of the disputed city, Oleksandr Stryuk, there are still around 10,000 civilians trapped in Severodonetsk.
But the regional governor, Serhiy Haidai, has emphasized that getting people out is now an impossible task, just like transporting goods.
Haidai explains that the Ukrainian defense lines are holding, but evacuations are out of reach in the face of heavy Russian artillery fire.
The official added that currently, the hospital has everything necessary to stabilize the wounded and stressed that “the Russians do not control the Lysychansk-Bakhmut route, but constantly assault it. We don’t use this road,” he said.
- 5:37 (BOG) Ukraine could “clean up Severodonetsk in two to three days” with Western weapons
The claim was made by Serhiy Haidai, governor of the self-proclaimed Luhansk Republic, to which Severodonetsk belongs.
Ukrainian troops on Thursday claimed to have made headway in heavy street fighting, but the hope of reversing Moscow’s territorial gains there and countering massive Russian firepower also rests with more long-range weapons from the West.
“The enemy powerfully persecutes the industrial zone, which we control. If we quickly get western long-range weapons, an artillery duel will start, Russia will lose to the west, and our defenders will be able to clear Severodonetsk in two or three days,” the Ukrainian official said.
Russian troops raze the city in an assault aimed at controlling eastern Ukraine, where the heaviest fighting has moved after Moscow’s initial failure to take the capital, kyiv.
The battle for that town is brutal and will determine the fate of the entire Donbass region, President Zelensky said.
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, has insisted that Moscow is making progress in Ukraine and that the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions will be “liberated very soon”.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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