ππ Global Eyes
π Ukraine's in trouble on the eastern front. The EU is useless and bickering. The Pacific nations nixed China's big plan. Iran's protests go ignored. Can we bring back Cleopatra's perfume? And more.
πΊπ¦ Ukraine
Is Russia about to seize Donbas? The tide is turning on Ukraineβs eastern front:
Ukraineβs stunning and unexpected string of victories over the Russian invaders in the first phase of the war may have bred a sense of complacency in well-meaning outside observers. A narrative has evolved, particularly among Ukraineβs Western supporters, that the Russian army is a paper tiger, that its soldiers are a rabble of undermotivated conscripts and that its generals are inept. But here in the Donbas region, where the Russians have concentrated their forces behind a creeping, devastating wall of artillery firepower, Russia holds a clear advantage.
Lightly-equipped and poorly-trained Territorial Defence volunteers have been sent from Ukraineβs western regions to plug the gaps, as the grinding war of attrition by artillery takes its toll on the regular army. Outnumbered by seven to one in some areas, according to Ukraineβs President Zelenskyy, Ukrainian forces are outranged by Russian artillery and outmatched by newly-concentrated Russian armor. Russian language propaganda, rarely transcribed in Western narratives, is exultant: Ukrainians are bracing for the worst.
Russiaβs βcauldronβ tactic may be tipping Donbas battle in its favor.
Ukraine suffers on battlefield while pleading for US arms. βTheyβre just raining down metal on us,β said a soldier fresh from the front line where Russia is advancing:
Having now regrouped, Russian troops are making incremental but steady progress in their campaign in the east and are regularly employing heavy flamethrowers and long-range artillery that Ukrainian forces lack, leaving Kyiv on the back foot. Though Ukrainian resistance has made the fight a slog for Russian forces, Moscow is inching closer to encircling Ukraineβs biggest strongholds in the Donbas region, while fighting on territory contiguous to Russia with easier supply lines. β¦
Whether [US] weaponry will get to Ukrainian forces in time to stave off a significant defeat in the east is now unclear, as Russian forces unleash a wave of attacks with gruesome weaponry on Ukrainian positions, forcing an exodus of people from the countryβs embattled easternmost regions.
π£β‘οΈ Russian tanks and troops have begun advancing into Sievierodonetsk, the largest city in Donbas still held by Ukraine. βUnfortunately we have disappointing news: the enemy is moving into the city,β said the Luhansk regional governor:
Witnesses said Russian tanks were advancing towards the centre of the city one blast at a time, razing everything in their path that remains following intense shelling that Ukrainian authorities have said has led to conditions on the groundiniscent of Mariupol.
βThey [the Russian army] use the same tactics over and over again,β Gaidai said. βThey shell for several hoursβfor three, four, five hoursβin a row and then attack. Those who attack die. Then the shelling and attack follow again, and so on until they break through somewhere.β Witnesses said the city was being bombed β200 times an hourβ as Russian forces try to cut off reinforcement lines and surround its remaining defenders.
πΉ Lavrov: Donbas is an βunconditional priorityβ for Russia, but other Ukrainian territories should decide their future on their own.
π¦ Zelensky seeks more help from Europe:
Zelensky is set to address the European Council Monday as he pushes for more help for Ukraine and more pressure on Russia to end its invasion.
π€ Zelensky met Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv:
While also praising regional officials Sunday, Zelensky said Kharkivβs security chief had been fired for βnot working to defend the city from the first days of the full-scale war.β
πΎπΊ Putin: We could reopen Odessa, but we want sanctions removed.
In the Kremlinβs statement regarding Saturdayβs call [with Macron and Scholz], Putin told the duo that βRussia is ready to help find options for unhindered grain exports, including the export of Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports.β But it added: βPutin explained the real reasons for the difficulties with food supplies, which were the result of the erroneous economic and financial policies of Western countries, as well as the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by them. β¦ Increasing the supply of Russian fertilizers and agricultural products will also reduce tensions in the global food market, which, of course, will require the lifting of the relevant sanctions.β
πEurope
πͺπΊπ’ EU struggles to agree on Russia sanctions. Nearly four weeks after the European Commission proposed oil sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, EU leaders are struggling to see eye to eye:
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