On the 110th day of the war in Ukraine, the Russian armed forces are consolidating their positions in the east of the country. The “human cost” of the Sievarodonetsk battle was “appalling,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday (June 13). Franceinfo summarizes the most important facts of the day.
The Ukrainian army surrenders the center of Severodonetsk to the Russians
Ukraine’s armed forces admitted on Monday that they had withdrawn from the center of Seyerodonetsk after a fresh Russian offensive on this key city in eastern Ukraine. “The enemy carried out an attack on Severodonetsk with artillery support, was partially successful and pushed our units back from the city center. Hostilities continue,” the Ukrainian General Staff said on Monday morning.
Sergei Gaidai, governor of the Lugansk region – whose administrative center is Sievierodonetsk for the part controlled by the Ukrainian authorities – confirmed that Ukrainian forces had been pushed back from the center. “Street fighting continues…Russians keep destroying the city,” he wrote on Facebook, posting photos of destroyed buildings on fire. “The human cost of this fight for us is very high. It’s just terrifying,” the Ukrainian president said in his daily address to Ukrainians, which was broadcast on Telegram.
According to the pro-Russian separatists fighting with the Russians in that region, the last Ukrainian divisions in Seyerodonetsk are now “blocked” after the last bridge that allowed them to reach the neighboring city of Lysytkhansk was destroyed. “You have two choices (…) surrender or die,” said Edouard Bassourine, spokesman for the separatists. For his part, Serguiï Gaïdaï denied any encirclement.
Ukraine has lost “a quarter of its arable land”.
Ukraine has lost a quarter of its arable land to Russian occupation of certain regions in the south and east, its agriculture ministry said on Monday while offering reassurance. “Despite the loss of 25% of the sown area, the structure of the crops sown this year is more than sufficient to ensure the consumption of the Ukrainian population,” Deputy Minister of Agriculture Taras Vysotskii told a conference press.
According to him, “consumption has also fallen due to the massive displacement [de population] and external migration” out of the country. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than seven million Ukrainians are internally displaced. In addition, there are 7.3 million who have fled abroad, more than half of them to Poland.
“Ukrainian peasants were able to prepare for sowing relatively well before the start of the war,” added Taras Vysotsky. “By February, Ukraine had already imported about 70% of the necessary fertilizers, 60% of the crop protection products and about a third of the amount of fuel needed for sowing,” he said. Russia and Ukraine together account for 30% of global wheat exports.
Four villages in northern Ukraine were evacuated due to Russian strikes
Three Russian attacks hit the town of Prylouky in northern Ukraine. No information was given about the targeted infrastructure in Prylouky, on which there is a military airfield. After these bombings, the evacuation of four villages – Zaïzd, Petrivské, Tykhé and Sukhostavets – was ordered, said the region’s civil defense officer Serguiï Boldyrev, quoted by the Souspilné media. “There is a risk that the fire will spread,” he explained.
After the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kyiv region and the north in early April, this region was relatively spared from fighting between the Ukrainian and Russian armies.
France wants to reconsider its military spending
The Russian offensive in Ukraine has “created an entry into a war economy for France, in which I think we have to organize ourselves in the long term,” Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. The head of state made the statement at the opening of the Eurosatory exhibition, the largest international land defense and security exhibition in Villepinte, northeast of Paris.
The French President therefore wants a “reassessment” of the Military Programming Law (LPM) 2019-2025 to “align the means to the threats”. “I have asked the Minister (of the Armed Forces) and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces to be able to conduct a re-evaluation of this military programming law in the light of the geopolitical context in the coming weeks,” he said reassuringly.
In 2017, Paris began a surge in defense credit after years of shortages. The budget of the Bundeswehr Ministry will increase again to 40.9 billion euros in 2022, according to the LPM 2019-2025, which aims to reach 50 billion euros in 2025. However, the president has not indicated whether he intends to increase the defense budget more than expected or whether it was to review priorities.