War in Ukraine, live: 100th day of the war, Russia controls 20% of the country, according to Kyiv

Live hosted by Alexandre Priam

Cover photo: Columns of smoke rise in the sky over Sieverodonetsk in the Luhansk region. The city is 80% controlled by the Russian army. June 2, 2022. ARIS MESSINIS / AFP

The posts of this live tracking are activated between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Paris time.

• One-fifth of Ukraine in Russian hands. Before the invasion, Russian or pro-Russian forces controlled 43,000 km2 of Ukrainian territory since the annexation of Crimea and the capture of a third of the Donbass in 2014. Since February 24, they have been advancing east and south, mostly towards the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov, which now dominates a strategic coastal corridor connecting Russian East with Crimea. Today nearly 125,000 km2 or 20% of the country is in Moscow’s hands, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday June 2nd.
• Sievierodonetsk crystallizes Moscow’s attention. “The most difficult situation” concerns Luhansk, one of the two regions of Donbass, recalled the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeri Zalouzhny. Sievierodonetsk, the region’s administrative capital, is “80%” occupied by Russian forces and fighting is raging on the streets, Lugansk region governor Serhi Haïdaï said. Mr Zelensky said in his daily message on Thursday evening that the situation in Donbass “did not change significantly during the day”. “We had some successes in the fight for Sieverodonetsk. But it’s still too early. That’s the toughest area right now,” he said.
• Residents of Sloviansk asked to evacuate. Russian pressure also remains strong on Donetsk, the other Donbass region, and in particular on Sloviansk, some 80 km west of Sievierodonetsk. About 100 people left the city in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, now without water and electricity, as the mayor called for residents to evacuate. On Tuesday, a Russian strike in the city killed three people, wounded six and caused extensive damage, according to witnesses interviewed by Agence France-Presse.
• Gradual return of embassies to Kyiv. In his daily address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the return to the capital of 50 diplomatic institutions that had previously been relocated to Lviv or elsewhere: “More and more embassies are resuming full-fledged activities in Kyiv. Every new message that returns to our capital shows faith in our victory. The belief that Ukraine can defend its statehood in this war unleashed on our country by the Russian Federation. »
• Ukraine and the status of a candidate for the European Union. President Zelenskyy did not fail to recall his order of priorities: “The main task remains to gather as much support for Ukraine as possible. First of all defensively, financially and of course politically. It is very important that now, in a few weeks, we have an answer from the European Union on Ukraine’s candidate status. We are looking forward to it. »
• New European sanctions… At the diplomatic level, EU countries on Thursday agreed to a sixth package of sanctions against Moscow that includes an embargo with exemptions on oil purchases, but they gave up on pressure from Hungary to blacklist the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill to put.
• … and American. In the United States, the Biden administration has announced a new set of sanctions targeting oligarchs or members of Moscow’s “elite,” including Russian diplomatic spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “I am grateful to President Biden, all of our American friends, and the people of the United States for their support,” Zelensky said Thursday night. Ukraine is also awaiting deliveries of more powerful rocket launcher systems promised by Joe Biden in hopes it will change the balance of power on the ground.
• Prepare for “a war of attrition” in the “long term.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington on Thursday that western countries should prepare “in the long term for a war of attrition”. The Russian-led war in Ukraine “will last for many months,” Mr Blinken added.

You can find our live from yesterday here.

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