AGENCIES

Ukraine has so far thwarted an attempted Russian advance into the north of its Donetsk region, but the city of Sloviansk and other civilian areas there were being heavily shelled, Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

Russia has increased its focus on Donetsk, the southern part of which it and its proxies already control, after completing its seizure of the neighbouring Luhansk region on Sunday with the capture of Lysychansk, much of which now lies in ruins.

Donetsk and Luhansk comprise the Donbas, the eastern part of Ukraine that has witnessed the biggest battle in Europe for generations and which Russia wants to wrest control of for separatists it backs.

“We are holding back the enemy on the (Luhansk/Donetsk) border,” Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian television.

He said Russian regular and reserve forces had been sent there in an apparent effort to cross the Siverskiy Donets river and that two small settlements just inside Luhansk’s borders were the scene of fierce fighting. Gaidai and other Ukrainian officials have said Russian forces are pounding targets inside Donetsk with missile strikes.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had destroyed two advanced US-made HIMARS rocket systems and their ammo depots in the Donetsk region.

The European Parliament yesterday approved a contentious EU proposal giving a sustainable finance label to investments in gas and nuclear power, sparking claims of “greenwashing” by environmental lobbyists. There were 278 votes to stop it while 328 voted for a green light. There were 33 abstentions.w