Ukraine warfare: Zelensky says 'occupiers urgent strongly' in Luhansk| High updates | World News

The months-long warfare in Ukraine has been progressing with Russia now laying siege within the japanese a part of the war-torn nation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that the navy state of affairs within the japanese area of rebel-held Luhansk appears to be like troublesome with Russia stepping up an effort to evict Ukrainian troops from key areas. "That's actually the hardest spot. The occupiers are urgent strongly," Zelensky mentioned in a video handle on Tuesday. Russian-backed forces have been combating Ukrainian forces in Luhansk and Donetsk provinces – collectively often called the Donbas – since 2014 following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Since invading Ukraine on February 24, Russia has didn't make a significant breakthrough, with some navy analysts saying that point is on the aspect of Ukrainians.

Here is are the highest updates from the warfare:

1) The Russian navy at present controls about 95% of the Luhansk area. However Moscow has struggled for weeks to overrun it fully, regardless of deploying further troops and possessing an enormous benefit in navy property.

2) Within the metropolis of Sievierodonetsk, the recent spot of the combating, Ukrainian defenders held on to the Azot chemical plant within the industrial outskirts. About 500 civilians are sheltering on the plant, and Haidai mentioned the Russian forces are turning the world “into ruins.”

3) Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, additionally got here beneath heavy Russian shelling on Tuesday. Gov. Oleh Syniehubov mentioned 15 civilians have been killed and 16 wounded in Kharkiv and elsewhere within the area.

4) In a symbolic resolution, Ukraine is about to grow to be an official candidate for European Union membership on Thursday, EU diplomats mentioned.

5) Zelensky mentioned he has spoken with leaders from 9 European Union members — Croatia, Denmark, Hungary, Eire, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain — in anticipation of Friday’s assembly of EU leaders to determine whether or not to grant Ukraine candidate standing. He mentioned his agenda for Wednesday is simply as full. “We're increasing the circle of those that assist Ukraine’s candidacy and making it extra seemingly that Friday’s resolution can be constructive,” he mentioned.

6) In the meantime, as we speak additionally marks the ‘Day of Remembrance and Sorrow’ in Russia, when Hitler's Nazi Germany forces invaded the Soviet Union in World Warfare Two. It's also commemorated in Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus, then a part of the Soviet Union. The warfare there lasted 1,418 days from June 22, 1941, and historians estimate round 27 million Soviet troopers and civilians died.

(With company inputs)