Invasion of Ukraine Onslaught of Russian Donbass… Odessa Airport runway attack

Russia’s foreign minister: lifting sanctions is part of peace negotiations vs Ukraine negotiator “not true”

Reuters reported that Russia’s onslaught in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine failed to capture three targeted areas on the 30th (local time), Ukrainian forces said.

Ukraine’s General Staff said in a daily update that Russia’s attempts to capture Liman in Donetsk and Sibierodonets and Popasna in Luhansk were unsuccessful and fighting continued.

Russia, which recently shifted the focus of its offensive to Donbas, claimed that the artillery had hit 389 Ukrainian targets overnight.

However, Luhansk Governor Serhi Gaidai said Russia had bombarded the entire region but failed to pass through the defenses.

He added that although the situation is difficult, the introduction of civilians will continue.

AFP news agency reported that the Russian military’s strategy in Donbas has shifted from pushing by force to continuing to inflict pain, citing Ukrainian military officials and Russian military experts.

AFP reported that the front lines of both sides are entangled like a chessboard in the irregular Donbas Plain, and the Ukrainian military has no choice but to use a delay operation against an enemy superior in size and equipment.

The Ukrainian military said a Russian missile hit the southern Odessa airport on Sunday, damaging the runway and making it unusable.

Fortunately, no casualties were reported.

Russian planes continued to attack the besieged southern port city of Mariupol on the same day, intensively attacking the Azoustal Works, where Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were evacuated, the Ukrainian military said.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the lifting of sanctions against Russia by the West is part of the peace negotiations, and that peace negotiations are continuing every day, albeit with difficulty, by video.

In response, Mikhail Podolyak, an aide to the Office of the President of Ukraine, the head of the peace negotiating group on the Ukraine side, dismissed it as not true, saying, “The issue of international sanctions against Russia is not being discussed at all.”

He said Lavrov had never been involved in negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that sanctions against Russia cannot be part of the negotiations.

He said the day before that the peace talks would end because of Russia’s ‘script about killing the people’.

Ukraine accuses the Russians of committing atrocities in an area near the capital, Kiiu, previously occupied by Russian forces, which Russian authorities denounce.

/yunhap news