the world s excess carbon. the commander of the azov regiment says ukrainian soldiers have finally ended their defence of the devastated port city of mariupol. they d vowed to fight until the end, but were eventually told to surrender from the azovstal steel plant. meanwhile, the president of ukraine, volodymyr zelensky has said that the donbas region in the east of the country has been completely destroyed. he said it was like hell . russia s defence minister says that the liberation of the region is nearing completion. jeremy bowen has the latest. the russians are shelling severodonetsk as they try to encircle it. more than 100,000 people lived in the city before the invasion. now, it s one of russia s biggest targets. this is russia using the methods it perfected in syria and chechnya heavy bombardment to try to break the will of its opponents. ukrainian rescue crews can still operate to reach civilians who need to get out. day by day, family by family, russia is grin
The dismissal of Oleksii Reznikov signals a strategy shift. Mr reznikov led the Ministry Since before the start of russias full scale invasion in february of last year, winning praise for negotiations to secure allied weaponry and expanding ukraines army. But as ukraines government has ramped up investigations into corruption, mr reznikov has become the subject of increasing speculation over financial misconduct, though he has not been personally implicated. Meanwhile, on the battlefield, ukrainian generals claim that they have breached russias formidable first line of defences in the south, near zaporizhzhia. General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi told the Observer Newspaper that extensive minefields had blocked troops for several weeks, leaving them vulnerable to russian shelling and drone attacks. But the general claimed that clearing those mines has allowed his forces to advance, saying that ukraine expects weaker Russian Defences ahead. Questions over ukraines slow progress on the battlefie
Other allies are directly at war with moscow. Lavrov also blamed the collapse of the black sea grain deal on ukraine. He further criticized kyiv s peace plan as not feasible or realistic. Heres mr lavrov addressing the Un General Assembly on saturday. Translation the collective west has a calling card and iti has long been to reject the principle of equality and their Total Inability to reach agreement. Being used to looking down at the rest of the world, americans and europeans make all sorts of promises and they take on commitments inter alia, written ones and legally binding ones, and then, theyjust dont fulfil them. As President Putin pointed out, the west is one that is truly an empire of lies. Russia, like many countries, knows about this firsthand. The bbc spoke to phillips obrien, professor of strategic studies at st andrews university. He said a lot was missing from mr lavrov s address. It was a speech that you would say really comes from a Point Of View of weakness on ukraine
In sevastopol hours after the attack. The Russian Defence Ministry Said one serviceman was missing. Our Correspondentjames Waterhouse has more from kyiv. This is clearly a continuation of ukraines tactic of specifically targeting sites in occupied crimea, but the apparent direct hit of russias naval headquarters in sevastopol is hugely symbolic. Its not yet clear what operational damage will be caused for russia, but this is a place where it has exerted such dominance through its navy, where it launches missiles across ukraine, it blockades ukrainian ports. And i think what this attack does is undermine russias continued occupation in a place that seems a cornerstone of its invasion from as far back as 2014. There is also a connection between this Missile Strike and ukraines continued counteroffensive further north. What they are trying to do is frustrate russian supply lines and isolate swathes of occupied territory in the hope that troops will run out of supplies. Now, president Zele
In sevastopol hours after the attack. The Russian Defence Ministry Said one serviceman was missing. Our Corespondentjames Waterhouse has more from kyiv. This is clearly a continuation of ukraines tactic of specifically targeting sites in occupied crimea, but the apparent direct hit of russias naval headquarters in sevastopol is hugely symbolic. Its not yet clear what operational damage will be caused for russia, but this is a place where it has exerted such dominance through its navy, where it launches missiles across ukraine, it blockades ukrainian ports. And i think what this attack does is undermine russias continued occupation in a place that seems a cornerstone of its invasion from as far back as 2014. There is also a connection between this Missile Strike and ukraines continued counteroffensive further north. What they are trying to do is frustrate russian supply lines and isolate swathes of occupied territory in the hope that troops will run out of supplies. Now, president Zelen