Russia Says It Destroyed Depot With Western Weapons in Ukraine

Piles of burnt sunflower seed meal at a destroyed area of the Nika-Tera grain terminal in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on June 12, 2022. Edgar Su/Reuters

Russian cruise missiles destroyed a large depot containing U.S. and European weapons in western Ukraine’s Ternopil region, Russia’s Interfax agency reported.

Ternopil’s governor said rockets fired from the Black Sea at the city of Chortkiv had partly destroyed a military facility and injured 22 people. A local official said there were no weapons stored there.

Reuters could not independently confirm the differing accounts.

Moscow has repeatedly criticized the United States and other nations for supplying Ukraine with weapons. President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Russia would strike new targets if the West supplied longer-range missiles to Ukraine for use in high-precision mobile rocket systems.

Ukrainian leaders have renewed pleas to Western countries in recent days to speed up deliveries of heavy weapons as Russian artillery pounds the east of the country.

Smoke rises after a military strike on a compound of Sievierodonetsk's Azot Chemical Plant in the town of Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, on June 10, 2022. Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters

Sievierodonetsk has become the epicenter of the battle for control over the industrialized Donbas region in the east, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.

Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Gaidai said on Sunday that Ukrainian and Russian forces were still fighting street by street in Sievierodonetsk. He said that while Russian forces have taken most of the city, Ukrainian troops remain in control of an industrial area and chemical plant where hundreds of civilians are sheltering.

Oleksandr Stryuk, mayor of Sievierodonetsk, said a little more than a third of the city remained under the control of Ukrainian forces and about two-thirds were in Russian hands.

“Our (forces) are holding the defensive line strongly,” Stryuk told national TV.

After being forced to scale back its initial campaign goals following its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has turned its attention to expanding control in the Donbas, where pro-Russian separatists have held a swathe of territory since 2014.

Sievierodonetsk is the last city in Luhansk province still held by Ukraine and its loss would be a significant strategic blow. Victory for the Russians would move them a big step closer to one of Putin’s stated goals in what he calls a “special military operation.”

To the south and southwest of Sievierodonetsk, Russian forces were firing mortars and artillery around a number of settlements, according to Ukraine’s general staff. But it said Ukrainian forces had repulsed Russian attempts to advance toward some communities.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Ukrainian forces have proven more resilient than expected, but the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said that as they use the last of their stocks of Soviet-era weapons and munitions, they will require consistent Western support.

Putin says Russia’s actions aim to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked war of aggression to capture territory.

A building destroyed by a military strike in the town of Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, on June 10, 2022. Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters

Russia Destroys Bridge, Cutting Escape Route: Ukrainian Official

The Russians had destroyed a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River linking Sievierodonetsk with its twin city of Lysychansk, Gaidai said.

That leaves just one of three bridges still standing, and reduces the number of routes that could be used to evacuate civilians or for Ukrainian troops to withdraw to positions on the western side of the river.

In Lysychansk itself, Russian shelling killed one woman and destroyed four houses and a shopping center, Gaidai said.

No Pardon for Britons Sentenced to Death: Separatist Leader

Also on Sunday, the leader of the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk region in Donbas said there was no reason to pardon two British nationals who were sentenced to death last week after being captured while fighting for Ukraine.

A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic on Thursday found Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner—and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun—guilty of “mercenary activities” seeking to overthrow the republic.

Britons Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun captured by Russian forces during a military conflict in Ukraine, in a courtroom cage at a location given as Donetsk, Ukraine, on June 7, 2022, in a still from video. Supreme Court of Donetsk People's Republic/Handout via Reuters

Britain says Aslin and Pinner were regular soldiers and should be exempt under the Geneva Conventions from prosecution for participation in hostilities. The separatists say they committed grave crimes and have a month to appeal.

“I don’t see any grounds, prerequisites, for me to come out with such a decision on a pardon,” Denis Pushilin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Aslin’s family said he and Pinner “are not, and never were, mercenaries.”