On Saturday (4), the Ukrainian government announced that it wants to strengthen its positions on its territory with the help of weapons promised by the West before resuming peace talks with Russia.
“Our armed forces are ready to use the new weapons. After that, we can start a new round of negotiations from a stronger position,” Ukrainian negotiator David Arakamia said.
The statement comes after Ukraine announced that it was able to push back Russian forces in Severodonetsk, in the Donbass region, where Moscow is concentrating its offensive to take full control of the territory.
“If before we had a difficult situation where about 70% (of the city) was captured, now they have been pushed back by 20%,” said Luhansk Governor Serhi Gaidai.
Four volunteer foreign fighters from the Ukrainian Defense Corps were killed today in the fighting, according to a brigade statement carried by the Guardian newspaper.
They are German, Dutch, Australian and French, whose identities have not been revealed. According to the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian President Andrei Yermak, the armed forces of the country almost completely destroyed the 35th Army of the Russian Federation in Izyum, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv. “The Thirty-fifth Army was almost completely destroyed at Izium,” he told Ukrinform.
In addition, hundreds of people are fleeing the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk, and the number of evacuations has nearly doubled this week, according to the city’s military administration head, Vadim Lyakh.
“Every day, 70-100 people leave Dnipro and 100-200 people leave for other parts of Ukraine,” Lyach said, adding that “the flow of traffic is increasing, more evacuation buses are being added and people are freed up room and board from local volunteers” .
