June 29, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Russian forces are focusing their efforts on encircling the city of Lysychansk, the Ukrainian military's General Staff said early Thursday.

Russian forces already control the southern and eastern approaches to Lysychansk, and fighting continues close to the main highway southwest of the city, where a large oil refinery is situated.

The Russians are also trying to close in on the town of Bakhmut, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Lysychansk, and have made some gains south of the town, the General Staff said Thursday.

If successful, they would potentially trap Ukrainian forces still defending lines in a pocket of territory in Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

"The enemy is partially successful, it is entrenching in the northern part of Klynove ​​and near the E-40 highway," said the General Staff. "In order to maintain the pace of the offensive in this direction, the occupiers strengthened the group with one battalion tactical group."

Some Ukrainian officials have called the E-40 "the highway of life" because of its importance in resupplying troops and evacuating civilians, which would be greatly complicated if the Russians interdict the highway. 

Elsewhere in Donetsk – near Sloviansk – the General Staff said that the Russians were still focused on assault operations north of the city and had moved more weapons and military equipment into the area.

Local Ukrainian officials have previously said that the Russians are reinforcing north of Sloviansk, one of several major cities in Donetsk that remain in Ukrainian hands.

The General Staff said that the Russians continued to shell Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region from across the border and had also brought a multiple launch rocket system into action.

Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, head of the Sumy region military administration, said three people had been killed.

The Russians had also carried out airstrikes, he said, using helicopters that shot missiles from the other side of the border. The town of Krasnopillya was "covered" with fire, he said.

In southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military says that the Russians have added one battalion tactical group to forces south of Kryvyi Rih.

Yevhen Sytnychenko, head of Kryvyi Rih district military administration, said that the city's thermal power plant had been shelled but continued to operate.

"The goal of the Russians is to intimidate the civilian population," he said, adding that one man had been injured in the shelling of a village south of the city.

In the city of Dnipro, the bodies of two people had been recovered from the rubble of a transport depot hit on Tuesday, according to local authorities.

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said he expects Sweden and Finland to become members of the military alliance quickly. 

"We will make a decision today or at least at the summit to invite Sweden and Finland to become members, that's unprecedented quick," he said on arrival at the NATO summit in Madrid on Wednesday, after both countries filed the application in mid-May.  

After the invitation, "we need a ratification process in 30 parliaments, that always takes some time but I expect also that to go rather quickly because allies are ready to try to make that ratification process happen as quickly as possible," he said. 

NATO leaders meeting Wednesday in Madrid will "state clearly that Russia poses a direct threat to our security," Stoltenberg also said.

On Monday, Stoltenberg announced that NATO would increase the number of high readiness forces to well over 300,000 in the eastern part of the alliance.  

Stoltenberg said Wednesday said he expects these forces to be ready by next year. 

With its strawberries and cream, grassy slopes, and peaceful setting in a leafy part of London, Wimbledon is a world away from Ukraine, where the bombs still fall four months after Russia invaded.

For the Ukrainians competing at SW19, however, the war never truly leaves them.

On Wednesday, Anhelina Kalinina will face Lesia Tsurenko in an all-Ukrainian second-round match they hope can draw attention to the continued plight of their country.

Since Russia began its war in Ukraine in February, millions of refugees have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, and for Kalinina, her family is among the uprooted.

She confirmed to reporters on Monday that her parents' home in the Kyiv suburb of Irpinhad been bombed, saying “they are alive, they are safe” but “living on the bags and praying every day.”

Read the full story here.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday that in just a decade, NATO’s relationship with Russia has changed from a partnership to considering it a key threat.  

Arriving at the summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recalled that in 2010, at the NATO Summit in Lisbon, Russia participated in meetings there. 

“This will not be the case now,” he told reporters.  

Stoltenberg said he thinks the NATO leaders in Madrid will agree “that Russia poses a direct threat to our security and that will be reflected” in NATO’s new strategic concept. 

A senior Russian-backed official installed to run the southern region of Kherson in Ukraine said the authorities there are preparing for a referendum to join the Russian Federation.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the military-civilian administration of the Kherson region, said in an interview on his Telegram channel: "Yes, we are preparing for the referendum, and we will hold it."

Stremousov has been collaborating with Russian officials for several months.

Addressing those anticipating Kherson's liberation by Ukrainian forces, Stremousov said on June 14: "We do not pay attention to it. All your attempts are useless and meaningless. […] We say once again that this is a waste of time."

He also warned those refusing to cooperate.

On Tuesday, the elected mayor of Kherson city, Ihor Kolykhaiev, was arrested. He has remained in the city throughout the occupation. The deputy head of the interim administration of the Kherson region, Kateryna Gubareva, confirmed his arrest.

The Russian-backed administration is planning to offer Russian passports to residents of Kherson and begin introducing the ruble as its currency.

About 45% of the pre-invasion population has left the region, according to Ukrainian officials, but moving directly to Ukrainian-held parts of the country has become extremely difficult. 

As leaders of major Western democracies and their allies meet in two back-to-back summits this week in Europe, their focus is clear: keeping pressure on Russia as its brutal assault on Ukraine enters its fifth month.

But another country has also been pulled into the spotlight in those meetings: China. And Beijing is not happy about it.

For the first time, the China “challenge” is expected to feature in NATO’s “Strategic Concept,” slated for release at the bloc’s summit in Madrid this week. The document, last updated in 2010, lays out the security challenges facing the alliance while outlining a course of action.

European leaders have grown increasingly wary of China in recent years and those views have hardened in recent months as Beijing has repeatedly refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and bolstered its ties with the Kremlin.

Read the full analysis here.

Five months of war have forced Ukrainians to adjust their expectations. After readying for a conflict they thought would be a sprint, many are now grappling with the likelihood of a “marathon,” said Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady.

“It’s very difficult to hold on for five months. We need to accumulate our strength, we need to save our energy,” Zelenska told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

Zelenska spoke to CNN at a crucial moment in the fight. Though Kyiv racked up a series of early victories in the initial aftermath of Russia's invasion, the tide appears to be turning in the Kremlin’s favor, especially in the east.

Read the full story here.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo departed Poland late Tuesday evening en route to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where he is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before traveling onto Moscow this week. 

The Indonesian President and his entourage are traveling on a train prepared by the Ukrainian government and used by state leaders who have previously visited the country, according to a statement from Indonesia's Presidential Secretariat. 

Their train departed Przemyśl, Poland around 9:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday and is expected to arrive in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Accompanying the President are his wife, First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo, Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, the statement said. 

Jokowi, as the President is popularly known, is expected to then hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, according to Russian state news agency TASS. 

Ahead of the start of his overseas tour, Jokowi said in a news conference on Sunday that his mission to Ukraine and Russia aims to "build dialogue, stop war and build peace," Indonesian national news agency Antara reported. 

The Indonesian leader has invited both Zelensky and Putin to the G20 Summit, which is scheduled to be held in Bali in November.

Turkey has dropped its objections to the NATO membership bids of Sweden and Finland, Ankara confirmed, removing a major hurdle to the two countries joining the alliance.

Here are the latest headlines: