The conquest of Mariupol – a city with a population of nearly 500,000 – is the biggest success so far for Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the steel mill there, the last of more than 2,400 Ukrainian fighters gave up on Friday night after many weeks. Your fate is uncertain. As prisoners of war, they are really under protection. Russian foreign policy expert Leonid Slutsky also suggested a switch to pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. He later said the fighters needed to be brought to justice. The verdict in Ukraine’s first war crimes trial against a 21-year-old Russian soldier is due on Monday.
In particular, the Russians are now trying to quickly take control of the cities of Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk Oblast. In Moscow, the Defense Ministry reported more than 580 attacks. The Russian army continues “its missiles and air strikes throughout the territory” and has “increased the intensity”, the Ukrainian Army General Staff said on Sunday. Thus, Moscow is increasingly using the air force “to destroy important infrastructure”. Ukrainian authorities confirmed, among other things, a rocket attack on the village of Malyn, west of Kiev.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Saturday it had destroyed a significant Western arms shipment at Malyn with “high-precision, long-range maritime weapons”. Ukrainian authorities, on the other hand, spoke of damage to “civilian infrastructure”. The General Staff did not provide any information on the delivery of fired weapons.
In the eastern region of Donbass, after completely taking over the port city of Mariupol, Russian troops are now apparently trying to capture the last Ukrainian positions as well. In the Luhansk region, only the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, separated by a river, are now controlled by Ukraine.
Ukrainian troop positions would be shelled with Russian artillery along the entire front line in the area, the General Staff in Kiev said on Sunday. Russian troops unsuccessfully tried to invade towns north, east and south of Sievjerodonetsk. The fighting was equally fierce for the villages south of the Lysychansk to Bakhmut route in the Donetsk region.
In a new video message, Zelenskyy appealed to the morale of his own troops. Every day Russia’s plans are thwarted is a step towards victory. It is believed that Russian soldiers who were once tied up in Mariupol are now deployed elsewhere. Russia may want to gain full control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions to secure a land corridor for the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea, which was annexed in 2014.
With the extension of martial law, however, Ukraine has made it clear how little hope there is for peace. The general mobilization was also extended until August 23 – a day later, Ukraine celebrates its independence. Martial law gives the military extended rights and restricts freedoms. Until now, Zelenskyy had imposed it in three stages for 30 days each. He demanded more sanctions from the West. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has implemented an aid package for Ukraine worth nearly 40 billion dollars (38 billion euros).
The effects of the conflict are increasingly reaching beyond Ukraine. Russia stopped supplying gas to Finland over the weekend. The state-owned company Gazprom justified this with the neighboring country’s refusal to pay in Russian rubles. However, the delivery stop is likely also related to Finland’s decision to want to join NATO along with Sweden. The country of 5.5 million is less dependent on Russian gas than Germany, for example. Power supply should not be significantly affected.