A man walks with a bicycle in a street damaged by shelling in Mariupol. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

 

 

Moscow gaining the ‘upper hand’ in Donbas … the horrors endured by Mariupol’s survivors … Russia’s use of cluster bombs and unguided missiles

 

Every week we wrap up the must-reads from our coverage of the Ukraine war, from news and features to analysis, visual guides and opinion.

 

Russia tightens its grip on the Donbas

 

Peter Beaumont reported this week on Russia’s advances in the Donbas region, with Ukrainian officials admitting that Moscow has the “upper hand” in fighting in the country’s east as defending forces fell back from some of their positions.

 

Amid reports that Lyman, the site of an important railway junction, had largely been taken, Ukraine’s general staff said that Russian forces were also advancing on Sievierodonetsk, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

 

(more)

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/28/what-happened-in-the-russia-ukraine-war-this-week-catch-up-with-the-must-read-news-and-analysis

 

 

 

Russia scraps age limit for new troops in Ukraine push

 

 

Russia has scrapped its age limit for professional soldiers, paving the way for more civilian experts to be recruited for the Ukraine conflict.

 

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law enabling people over 40 to enlist for the armed forces. They are expected to be people of normal working age.

 

Previously the army had age limits of 18-40 years for Russians and 18-30 for foreigners.

...

Ukrainian and Western military experts say Russia has suffered heavy losses in the war: about 30,000 killed, according to Ukraine, while the UK government estimates the toll at about 15,000. In comparison, Soviet losses in nine years of war in Afghanistan were about 15,000.

 

(more)

 

Looks like this is what they want to settle.

 

"Mr Lavrov told TF1 that winning in "the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, recognised by the Russian Federation as independent states, is an unconditional priority".

However, he added, it was up to the rest of Ukraine if people there were "happy to return to the authority of a neo-Nazi regime that has proven it is Russophobic in essence".

 

Interview with French television, the last sentence says a lot.