Max Hunder, Pavel Polityuk

KYIV, Reuters – Russian troops fought on Wednesday to seize control of Sievierodonetsk (an eastern industrial city), as the United States announced that it would provide Ukraine advanced rockets in order to make it agree to an end of war.

Joe Biden, the U.S. president, stated that Washington will provide Ukraine more sophisticated rocket systems and munitions to help it “more precisely hit key targets on battleground.”

Biden said in an opinion piece for the New York Times that “we have quickly moved to send Ukraine significant amounts of weaponry, ammunition so it fights on the battlefield” on Tuesday.

According to a senior Biden official, weaponry will be supplied with the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. (HIMARS) was cited by Ukraine’s Armed Forces chief as “crucial” in countering Russian missile attack.

Concerned that such weapons might lead to a conflict between the United States and Russia, officials from the administration said Kyiv provided “assurances”, stating that they would not strike Russia with the missiles.

According to the U.S., the systems would be used by Ukraine in repelling Russian advances on Ukrainian territory. However, they won’t be used against targets on Russian territory.”

Russia is launching an assault on the eastern Donbas as Russia abandons its prior push toward Kyiv. The U.S. has now pledged weapons to Ukraine. This comes in addition to the billions of dollars of equipment, including drones and anti-aircraft missiles.

Russian troops now control most of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern industrial town in Luhansk. It is also one of the Donbas’ two provinces. Regional Governor Serhiy Gaaidai announced Tuesday that the Russians have taken full control.

He said that 60% of the residential properties had suffered irreparable damage and almost all infrastructure was destroyed in Sievierodonetsk. Russian shelling made it impossible for aid to be delivered or people evacuated.

Russian victories in Sievierodonetsk would give full control to Luhansk. This is one of the two eastern provinces Moscow asserts for separatists.

Pro-Russian separatist leader stated that Russian proxies were moving slower than they expected in order to “maintain city’s infrastructure” as well as be more cautious about its chemical factories.

According to Russia’s TASS, Leonid Pasechnik (leader of pro-Moscow Luhansk People’s Republic), “We can already say that a third” of Sievierodonetsk’s territory is under our control.”

Gaidai warned Sievierodonetsk citizens not to evacuate bomb shelters in the wake of an alleged Russian air strike against a nitric Acid tank.

Luhansk People’s Republic’s security force claimed that Ukraine had attacked it. An April incident similar to the one in which Ukraine was attacked by Russian-backed separatists led to accusations being exchanged between them.

Jan Egeland (secretary general, Norwegian Refugee Council) said that he is “horrified” at the destruction of Sievierodonetsk.

Egeland stated that up to 12,000 civilians are still trapped in the crossfire without adequate access to water or food.

He stated that civilians are forced to flee to bomb shelters or basements because of the near constant bombardment.

PACKAGE OF WEAPONS

Kyiv claims that weapons from the United States, as well as other nations since the beginning of the invasion, have been used to fend off Russian gains.

These high-mobility artillery rockets systems form part of the $700 million weapon package that will be revealed by the United States Wednesday.

Officials stated that this package includes anti-armour weapons and ammunition.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, has demanded more arms while blaming the European Union for failing to sanction Moscow’s energy sooner.

EU officials stated that they would prohibit Russian oil from being imported by sea. Officials claimed that the EU would ban two-thirds, then 90 percent of Russia’s oil exports to Europe within the first three months.

Moscow responded to EU’s oil embargo by increasing its gas supplies to Europe. This move pushed up the prices and intensified its economic struggle with Brussels.

Putin started his “special operations” to dearm and “denazify Ukraine in February. This is a pretext to declare war on Ukraine, according to its Western allies.

Ukraine has accused Moscow of war crimes. They claim that Moscow flattened cities, killed and raped civilians and committed other large-scale violations. Russia denied the claims.