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world news Dialuna 16 Mei 2022

Small wins buoy Ukraine; West says Russians losing momentum

(AP) — Almost three dent Vladimir Putin, who has battle for the country’s east-
months after Russia cited NATO’s post-Cold War ern industrial heartland, the
shocked the world by in- expansion in Eastern Europe Donbas. Ukraine’s most ex-
vading Ukraine, its mili- as a threat to Russia. NATO perienced and best-equipped
tary faces a bogged-down says it is a purely defensive soldiers are based in eastern
war, the prospect of a big- alliance. Ukraine, where they have
ger NATO and an oppo- fought Moscow-backed sep-
nent buoyed Sunday by While Moscow lost ground aratists for eight years.
wins on and off the battle- on the diplomatic front, Rus-
field. sian forces also failed to make Youtube video thumbnail
territorial gains in eastern Even with its setbacks, Russia
Top diplomats from NATO Ukraine. continues to inflict death and
met in Berlin with the alli- destruction across Ukraine.
ance’s chief and declared that Ukraine said it held off Rus- Over the weekend, its forces
the war “is not going as Mos- sian offensives Sunday in the hit a chemical plant and 11
cow had planned.” east, and Western military high-rise buildings in Sivero-
officials said the campaign donetsk, in the Luhansk area Lviv is a major gateway for tory.
“Ukraine can win this war,” Moscow launched there after of the Donbas, the regional the Western-supplied weap-
NATO Secretary-General its forces failed to seize the governor said. Gov. Serhii ons Ukraine has acquired “Under the current condi-
Jens Stoltenberg said, adding capital of Kyiv has slowed to Haidaii said two people were during the war. tions, Russia is unlikely to
that the alliance must contin- a snail’s pace. killed in the shelling and dramatically accelerate its
ue to offer military support to warned residents still in the The Ukrainian military said rate of advance over the next
Kyiv. He spoke by video link Ukraine, meanwhile, cel- city to stay in underground it held off a renewed Rus- 30 days,” the ministry said on
to the meeting as he recovers ebrated a morale-boosting shelters. sian offensive in the Dontesk Twitter.
from a COVID-19 infection. victory in the Eurovision area of the Donbas. Rus-
Song Contest. The folk-rap Russian troops also were pre- sian troops also tried to ad- The assessments of Russia’s
On the diplomatic front, both ensemble Kalush Orchestra paring for another attempt to vance near the eastern city of war performance came as
Finland and Sweden took won the glitzy pan-European cross the strategically impor- Izyum, but Ukrainian forces Russian troops retreated from
steps bringing them closer to competition with its song tant Siverskiy Donets River, stopped them, the governor around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s
NATO membership despite “Stefania,” which has become two days after Moscow suf- of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, second-largest city, which
Russian objections. Finland a popular anthem among fered heavy losses in a Ukrai- Oleh Sinegubov, reported. was a key military objective
announced Sunday that it Ukrainians during the war. nian attack that destroyed a earlier in the war and was
was seeking to join NATO, pontoon bridge, the governor The Ukrainian claims could bombarded for weeks. The
citing how the invasion had President Volodymyr Zelen- said. not be independently veri- regional governor said there
changed Europe’s security skyy vowed that his nation fied, but Western officials had been no shelling in the
landscape. Several hours lat- would claim the customary Russia also continued strik- also painted a somber picture city for several days, though
er, Sweden’s governing party winner’s honor of hosting ing railways, factories and for Russia. Russia continued to strike
endorsed the country’s own the next annual competition. other infrastructure across the wider Kharkiv region.
bid for membership, which Ukraine. Russian missiles de- Britain’s Defense Ministry
could lead to an application “Step by step, we are forc- stroyed “military infrastruc- said in its daily intelligence After failing to capture Kyiv,
in days. ing the occupiers to leave the ture facilities” in the Yavoriv update Sunday that the Rus- Putin shifted the invasion’s
Ukrainian land,” Zelenskyy district of western Ukraine, sian army had lost up to one- focus to the Donbas, aiming
If the two nonaligned Nordic said. near the border with Poland, third of the combat strength to seize territory not already
nations become part of the the governor of the Lviv re- it committed to Ukraine in occupied by the Moscow-
alliance, it would represent Russian and Ukrainian fight- gion said. late February and was failing backed separatists.
an affront to Russian Presi- ers are engaged in a grinding to gain any substantial terri-

UK’s Johnson urges end to N Ireland deadlock, spars with EU

(AP) — British Prime ist parties. Johnson will urge Ireland from the rest of the
Minister Boris Johnson is political leaders in Belfast to U.K.
heading to Northern Ire- get back to work and deal
land on Monday to try to with “bread and butter” is- The arrangement is opposed
end a political deadlock sues such as the soaring cost by unionists in Northern Ire-
that is preventing the for- of living, his office said Sun- land, who say the new checks
mation of a regional ad- day. It said he will also ac- have put a burden on busi-
ministration. cuse the EU of refusing to nesses and frayed the bonds
give ground over post-Brexit between Northern Ireland
The trip comes amid threats border checks and warn that and the rest of the U.K.
by Johnson’s government to Britain will have a “necessity
break the Brexit agreement to act” unless the bloc chang- The British government
with the European Union es its position. agrees that the regulations
that it blames for the crisis. are destabilizing Northern
Northern Ireland is the only Ireland’s peace agreement,
Voters in Northern Ireland part of the U.K. that shares a which relies on support from
elected a new Assembly this border with the EU. When both Protestant unionist and
month, in an election that Britain left the bloc in 2020, Catholic nationalist commu-
saw Irish nationalist party a deal was agreed to keep the nities.
Sinn Fein win the most seats. Irish land border free of cus-
It was the first time a party toms posts and other checks, The prime minister’s office
that seeks union with the fusing to form a government, because an open border is a said Sunday that the trade
Republic of Ireland has won or even allow the assembly Under power-sharing rules key pillar of the peace process agreement — which John-
an election in the bastion of to sit, until Johnson’s gov- set up as part of Northern that ended decades of vio- son’s government negotiated
Protestant unionist power. ernment scraps post-Brexit Ireland’s peace process, a lence in Northern Ireland. and signed — had “resulted
checks on goods entering government can’t be formed Instead, there are checks on in the unionist community
The Democratic Unionist Northern Ireland from the without the cooperation of some goods, such as meat feeling like its aspirations and
Party came second and is re- rest of the U.K. both nationalist and union- and eggs, entering Northern identity are threatened.”