‘Fierce battles’ rage in villages outside key city in Ukraine
KYIV: Ukrainian authorities said on aturday that “fierce battles” with Russia raged in villages outside the eastern city of Severodonetsk, which Moscow’s forces have been trying to seize control of for weeks.
“Now the most fierce battles are near Severodonetsk. They (Russia) do not control the city entirely,” the governor of the eastern Lugansk region, Sergiy Gaiday, said on Telegram.
“In nearby villages there are very difficult fights - in Toshkivska, Zolote. They are trying to break through but failing,” he said. “Our defenders are fighting Russians in all directions. Recently, they shot down a plane and took captives,” he said.
He also said that Lysychansk - a Ukrainian-controlled city across a river from battered Severodonetsk - is being “heavily shelled”.
Zelensky visits Mykolaiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the war-damaged southern city of Mykolaiv on Saturday for the first time since the Russian invasion in a rare trip outside Kyiv.
Zelensky’s office published a video of him looking at a badly damaged high-rise residential building in the city and holding a meeting with local officials.
His visit comes a day after a Russian strike killed two people and injured 20 in the city.
EU decision hailed
Zelensky hailed Brussels’ support for Kyiv’s European Union bid as a historic achievement.
The European Commission spearheaded a powerful show of solidarity on Friday by backing Ukraine for EU candidate status, an endorsement that could add it to the list of countries vying for membership as early as next week.
All 27 leaders must back Ukraine’s candidacy at a Brussels summit next week but the heads of the bloc’s biggest members - France, Germany and Italy - gave full-throated support to the idea during a highly symbolic visit to Kyiv this week.