KOSTIANTYNIVKA, Ukraine – Russia and Ukraine pounded each other’s forces in heavy fighting in the eastern region of Donetsk on Tuesday, as Kyiv’s allies pledged just over 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) to help Ukrainians survive the harsh winter.
Russian forces are battling for control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, two of four territories claimed by the Kremlin to have been annexed in votes deemed illegal by most countries.
Moscow is also launching missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, cutting off power to millions of civilians living in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
“They’re shelling really hard, there’s shelling, especially at night,” Valentyna, 70, told Reuters as she fled the Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut, which Moscow is attempting to take but is now largely in ruins due to the constant bombardment.
Valentyna, who did not want to give her surname, spoke in a van on its way to the relative safety of Ukrainian-controlled Pokrovsk.
“The house would shake and every minute, second you expect it could crumble around you and that’d be it. “I couldn’t sleep for a week, so I decided to leave,” she added.
On Tuesday afternoon, air raid sirens wailed across Ukraine, but no new attacks were reported, and the all clear was given.
Around 70 countries and institutions pledged payments totaling just over 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) in Paris to help Ukraine maintain its water, food, energy, health, and transportation systems, according to French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
Ukraine needed at least 800 million euros ($840 million), according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “It’s a lot, but it’s less than the cost of a blackout,” Zelensky said via video link to the meeting.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron, there is an agreement in place to remove heavy weapons from Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and discussions are underway on how to do so.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed administrator of the Moscow-controlled portion of Donetsk, told Russian media that slightly more than half of the Donetsk People’s Republic had been “liberated.” The self-proclaimed republic is a Russian-backed entity that has been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.
The report could not be independently verified by Reuters.
In recent weeks, fighting in the region has made it unclear which parts of Donetsk are under Russian and Ukrainian control.
Three civilians were killed in Donetsk in the last 24 hours, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on his Telegram channel, while governor Yaroslav Yanushevych reported three people killed by Russian artillery in the southern Kherson region.
Belarus’ combat readiness
According to him, Russian troops shelled the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Kherson region 57 times.
According to Zelensky, Russia’s sustained shelling of the Donetsk frontline has destroyed Bakhmut city and severely damaged Avdiivka, which is located in the region’s center.
Ukraine’s armed forces said on Monday that Russia was continuing to concentrate its efforts to advance and capture both cities.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in the Zaporizhzhia region, shared a video on Telegram late Monday of a damaged bridge connecting a suburb to Melitopol, a Russian-occupied city Ukraine regards as critical to Russia’s defense of territory it controls in the south, including Crimea.
The report could not be independently confirmed by Reuters. Melitopol’s exiled mayor, Ivan Fedorov, also shared video taken from the perspective of a vehicle approaching what appeared to be the bridge and then reversing away from a buckled section.
Fedorov drew a parallel to an October attack on a more strategically important road-and-rail bridge connecting Russia and the Crimean peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine was behind the explosion and ordered retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian cities including Kyiv.
According to the Interfax news agency, Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), said there has been a significant increase in “terrorist manifestations” in Russia this year, mostly in regions close to Ukraine.
According to Interfax, the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, which Bortnikov chairs, 123 such crimes, including 64 terrorist acts, were avoided this year. Bortnikov claimed that these acts were carried out by Western-backed Ukrainian “special services” as well as “international terrorist organizations.”
The latest battlefield accounts could not be independently verified by Reuters.
Belarus, Russia’s close ally, announced a surprise military inspection on Tuesday, including increased combat readiness in the country’s south, the latest in a series of drills that has alarmed neighboring Ukraine.
Long-distance weapons
After Zelensky requested modern tanks, artillery, and long-range weapons, the Group of Seven promised to “meet Ukraine’s urgent requirements” on Monday. He also urged the G7 to back his proposal for a special Global Peace Summit.
On Tuesday, Russia rejected Zelensky’s peace proposal, which included the withdrawal of Russian troops, and demanded that Kyiv accept new territorial “realities,” which included Russia’s addition of four Ukrainian regions as “new subjects.”
On Sunday, US Vice President Joe Biden told Zelensky that strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses was a top priority for Washington. The US also delivered the first batch of power equipment to Ukraine as part of an aid package agreed upon last month.
Moscow denies attacking civilians on purpose, but the war has displaced millions and killed thousands of noncombatants.
There are no ongoing peace talks to end the conflict, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation” to counter security threats posed by its neighbor. Ukraine and its Western allies have described it as an unprovoked, imperialist land grab.
