After the capture of Luhansk, the Russian army gave no fight to Ukraine with new and dangerous offensives. This Wednesday, two people were killed and at least seven injured in a massive bombing in the city of Sloviansk, prompting the president of the region to evacuate the area. “It is important to evacuate as many people as possible,” Vadim Liak told Reuters in an interview, adding that 144 people, including 20 children, had been evacuated on Tuesday.
That day, six deaths and at least twenty injuries were reported in the city, one of the largest supply centers in front of Ukrainian forces, which is now considered an “attack point” in Russia, the governor of the Donetsk region warned. Pavlo Kyrilenko told Reuters on Tuesday.
Despite these attacks, it remains unclear whether Russian forces will advance further to capture Sloviansk, especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin said troops fighting in Luhansk should “rest and restore their combat capabilities.”
The recent Russian attacks, while winning first victories for this military, could affect the Kremlin’s long-term plans. “If we take the eastern cities, 60% of Russian forces are now concentrated in this region, and it is now difficult to divert them to the south,” Oleksiy Arestovich, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, was quoted as saying by the Guardian. “There are no troops that can be brought from Russia. They paid a heavy price to capture Severodonetsk and Lysizansk.
In addition to exploiting this weakness of the Russian military, Ukraine wants to “introduce” weapons recently acquired by the West for the battlefield, a missile arsenal donated by the United States and the United Kingdom. “This is Russia’s last victory on the territory of Ukraine,” Arestovich said.
Emergency plan to prevent gas cuts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU must start preparing in the event of a complete Russian gas cut, announcing that her executive would present an emergency plan this month. “We must prepare for further disruptions in gas supplies, even a complete cutoff from Russia. Currently, in total, 12 member states are directly affected by partial or total reductions in gas supplies. The obvious: [o Presidente russo, Vladimir] “Putin continues to use power as a weapon”, he said at a debate in the Strasbourg Hemicycle for the two-year Czech presidency of the Council of the European Union, which began on July 1.
Van der Leyen announced that the Commission was working on a European emergency plan to be submitted in July.
“Member states already have their national emergency plans in place. That’s good, but we need European coordination and common action. In the event of a total breakdown, we need to ensure that gas flows to where it is most needed. We need to ensure European unity. And the single market and industry supply chain. We have to protect the chain as well,” he said.
In Portugal, Russian gas will account for less than 10% of total imports in 2021.
