Ukraine launched a counterattack against Russian forces in the city of Sievierodonetsk and recaptured around a fifth of the territory it had lost, the head of the region has claimed.
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, said Russian forces had suffered significant defeats and were blowing up bridges to prevent Ukrainian forces from bringing in further military reinforcements.
“Right now, our soldiers have pushed them back, they [the Russians] are suffering huge casualties,” Mr Gaidai said in a live TV broadcast on Saturday.
“The Russian army, as we understand, is throwing all its efforts, all its reserves in that [Sievierodonetsk] direction,” he said.
“Russians are blowing up bridges, so we could not bring in reinforcements to our boys in Sievierodonetsk.”
Moscow is aiming to control the entire Luhansk province, and the Donbas region has been the source of some of the most fierce battles in recent weeks.
Both sides have claimed to have inflicted huge casualties in the fighting for the small industrial city, a battle that military experts say could determine which side has the momentum for a prolonged war of attrition in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Kyiv has rebuked French president Emmanuel Macron for saying it was important not to “humiliate” Moscow.
“We must not humiliate Russia so that the day when the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means,” Mr Macron said in an interview with regional newspapers published on Saturday, adding he was “convinced that it is France’s role to be a mediating power”.
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted in response: “Calls to avoid humiliation of Russia can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it.
“Because it is Russia that humiliates itself. We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place. This will bring peace and save lives.”
Ukraine now says its aim is to push Russian forces back as far as possible on the battlefield, counting on advanced missile systems pledged in recent days by the US and Britain to swing the war in their favour.
Asked about Macron’s mediation offer on national television, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said: “Until we receive weapons in their full amount, until we strengthen our positions, until we push them [Russian forces] back as far as possible to the borders of Ukraine, there is no point in holding negotiations.”
It comes after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian artillery hit an early 17th century Ukrainian Orthodox monastery on Saturday.
Russia’s defence ministry denied involvement, accusing Ukrainian troops of setting fire to the All Saints church before pulling back.
The Svyatohirsk Lavra monastery complex lies near Russian positions in eastern Donetsk.
Flames could be seen ripping through the timber walls of a church with onion domes in footage posted by Mr Zelensky on his official Telegram channel.
“Russian artillery struck the Svyatohirsk Lavra in the Donetsk region again today. Destroyed All Saints monastery. It was consecrated in 1912. It was first destroyed during the Soviet era. Later it was rebuilt to be burned by the Russian army,” the Ukrainian leader wrote.
Mr Zelensky called for Russia to be expelled from the United Nations’ cultural agency Unesco and said there had been no military targets present at the site. Two monks and a nun were killed at the site in shelling on 1 June.
Pope Francis said on Saturday he would meet soon with Ukrainian officials to discuss the possibility of a visit to their country.
The Pope disclosed the coming meeting in a question-and-answer session with children in one of the Vatican’s main courtyards.
A Ukrainian boy named Sachar asked him: “Can you come to Ukraine to save all the children who are suffering there now?”
The pontiff, 85, responded that he often thought of Ukrainian children and wanted to visit the country but had to choose the right time.
“It is not easy to make a decision that could do more harm than good to the rest of the world. I have to find the right moment to do it,” he said, according to a Vatican transcript of the event.
“Next week I will receive representatives of the Ukrainian government, who will come here to talk, to talk even about an eventual visit of mine there. We’ll see what happens,” Francis said. He gave no further details.
Additional reporting by agencies
