UN: Civilians being killed in Donetsk assault

24/5/2022 4:13

        Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday that U.N. staff on the ground remain concerned about the impact on civilians by the reported fierce fighting in eastern Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. He said people are being killed or injured. Homes, civilian infrastructure and residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed. In the government-controlled part of Luhansk, local authorities informed the U.N. that a bridge leading to the administrative center of the region – Sievierodonetsk – was destroyed on May 21. He said that left the partially encircled city reachable by only one road. While some people managed to leave Sievierodonetsk over the weekend, Dujarric said local authorities estimate that thousands of civilians remain in the war-affected city and require urgent support. U.N. humanitarian staff also said that shelling and airstrikes were reported in other areas of Ukraine, including in northern, central and southern parts, claiming civilian lives and damaging civilian infrastr
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        Germany’s banks say refugees from Ukraine will be allowed to exchange a limited amount of Ukrainian currency into euros from today. In a statement Monday, the banks said they had signed an agreement with the German Finance Ministry and the national banks of Germany and Ukraine to allow a total of $50.8 million to be converted. Every adult Ukrainian refugee with an account at a major German bank will be allowed to exchange up to 10,000 hryvnia, or about 317 euros ($339).
        
        President Vladimir Putin says Russian economy is “withstanding the blow” of international sanctions well, even though it “is not easy.” Putin on Monday hosted his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Putin said “The Russian economy withstands the sanctions blow, it withstands it very worthily,”. “All the main macroeconomic indicators speak of this.” At the same time, the Russian leader noted that “everything is not easy, everything that happens requires special attention and special efforts from the economic bloc of the government.” Putin has repeatedly assured the public that Russia is coping well under the pressure, which many experts describe as unprecedented. However, the ruble has briefly lost half its value at some point, prices for food and other goods spiked and even temporary shortages of sugar, sanitary products and some medications were reported.
        
        Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country has objected to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, called on Stockholm on Monday to take “concrete steps” that would alleviate Turkey’s security concerns. Turkey has said it opposes the two Nordic states membership in the alliance citing their alleged support to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK and other groups that Turkey views as terrorists. The country is also demanding a lifting of military export bans on Ankara. In his speech, Erdogan made no reference to Finland amid reports that most of Turkey’s grievances are directed at Sweden, which has a large community of Kurdish exiles. ___