Russia-Ukraine Crisis: According to Oleksandr Stryuk the mayor of Sievierodonetsk city, the Russian forces have fully occupied the strategic frontline city in eastern Ukraine after weeks of fighting and bombardment.
Ukraine’s finance minster Sergii Marchenko and the Federal Minister of Finance of Germany Christian Lindner signed an Agreement between the Governments of Ukraine and Germany on providing EUR 1 billion in grant funding to Ukraine on June 24th.
Meanwhile, Russian forces are trying to block Lysychansk city from the south in eastern Ukraine, the region’s governor said on Saturday. The city lies next to Sievierodonetsk, which has endured relentless assault and house-to-house fighting for weeks.
Dozens of Russian missiles rained down on military facilities in western and northern Ukraine on Saturday, local officials said, as Europe’s biggest land conflict since World War Two entered its fifth month.
The governor of the Lviv region in western Ukraine, Maxim Kozytskyi, said in a video posted online that six missiles were fired from the Black Sea at the Yavoriv base, with four hitting the base and two being intercepted and destroyed before hitting their target.
Meanwhile, European Union leaders on Thursday granted Ukraine the coveted status of an official candidate to join their 27-nation club, a bold geopolitical step hailed by Kyiv and the EU itself as a “historic moment”.
Although it could take Ukraine more than a decade to eventually join the bloc, the decision is a symbol of the EU’s intention to reach deep into the former Soviet Union.