[/QUOTE]
The Ukrainian side sets new conditions for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, as fighting escalates in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow confirmed on Saturday that pro-Russian separatists have taken control of the key location of Liman, which opens the way for Russians to the major cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia can take place when the aggressor country renounces hypocrisy, withdraws from the south of the country and withdraws its troops, Mikhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky, said yesterday, Saturday.
""Ukraine refuses to negotiate", once again Moscow is lying. Real negotiations are possible if Russia renounces hypocrisy (say one thing and do another), withdraws from the south of the country and withdraws its troops. Until then, a different 'delegation' is negotiating on the front line," Podolyak wrote in a Twitter post.
Earlier yesterday, Podolyak had stressed that there can be no confidence in any agreement with Russia and that Moscow's invasion can only be stopped by force.
On Saturday, the leaders of France and Germany urged Vladimir Putin to hold "direct and serious negotiations" with the Ukrainian president, the German chancellery said.
Flooded villages
About 50 houses in the village of Demidiv remain partially under water months after a dam was destroyed and the area flooded in an attempt to halt the advance of Russian troops towards the Ukrainian capital Kiev, regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said late yesterday.
The Ukrainian army blew up a dam on the Irpin River in February, flooding the village and large tracts of land around it, although the move prevented Russian tanks from reaching Kiev.
"At the moment, about 50 houses in the village of Demidiv remain flooded," Kuleba said in a Telegram post.
"People are showing understanding for the situation. We, in turn, are making every effort to resolve the issue."
The village was partially evacuated after the invasion began, local media reported, but some residents have returned since Moscow focused its offensive on eastern Ukraine.
Over the weekend, Russian forces pounded towns in the eastern part of the country in what the Kremlin calls a "special operation" to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine.
"The army is destroying everything"
In Severodonetsk, "the shelling continues () the army is quite simply destroying the city," the governor of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaidai, asserted on his Telegram account. According to him, Russian forces entered the outskirts of the city where they suffered "heavy losses" while Ukrainian forces were trying to dislodge Russians from a hotel.
But the governor says that "Severodonetsk is not cut off" from Russian forces and separatists. Access to humanitarian aid continues to be made possible, he said.
The governor was responding to a police official from the pro-Russian separatist republic of Lugansk, quoted by Ria Novosti, who said Friday that "the city of Severodonetsk is currently surrounded" and that Ukrainian troops are trapped there.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry added on Saturday on Telegram that "(the enemy) carried out assault operations in the Severodonetsk, Oskolonivka, Toskivka regions to no avail, suffered losses and retreated to positions previously held."
According to Gaidai, the capture of Severodonetsk would be "a strong victory" for Russian forces as "their army has not had big victories and they need to feed their population with something".
Source: cnn.gr
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs to Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
