It’s Day 111 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces have pushed Ukrainian units out of the center of the key eastern city of Severodonetsk, according to Ukraine’s military command.
On Monday, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk Oblast, Serhiy Haidai, said that Russians „now control about 70 percent of Severodonetsk,” as fierce fighting continued in the city. He added that „about 500 civilians remain on the grounds of the city’s Azot chemical plant,” including 40 children, according to reports by Reuters.
Yesterday, Russian forces destroyed the last remaining bridge connecting Severodonetsk with neighboring Lysychansk, effectively eliminating evacuating routes.
Severodonetsk is the biggest city in Ukraine’s easternmost Luhansk Oblast not yet entirely occupied by Russia. It has been the main target of Russian attacks as the Kremlin attempts to advance in the eastern Donbas region.
Source: Radio Poland, Reuters
After a video call with leaders of Poland and Slovakia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked both countries for their help and support for his war-torn country.
The call with Poland’s Andrzej Duda and Slovakia’s Zuzana Čaputová focused on collective efforts to persuade officials in Brussels to grant Ukraine EU candidate status, officials told reporters. Duda’s foreign policy aide, Jakub Kumoch, said it was „a very important conversation” during which the three heads of state „discussed the next steps to take.”
So far, the presidents of ten central and eastern European countries, along with Finland, Italy, Spain, and Greece, have come out in favor of Ukraine’s EU candidacy. The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, and Portugal remain „skeptical” of the proposal, with Germany and France also expressing reservations.
Source: Radio Poland, Radio Gdańsk
Poland and Ukraine are set to connect their power systems by the end of this year, with Polish suppliers looking to nuclear power and LNG to meet current energy needs.
The Polish commissioner for strategic energy infrastructure, Piotr Naimski, made the announcement during the 10th annual National Energy Summit in Gdańsk. According to him, „The power line will connect Poland’s southeastern city of Rzeszów with Ukraine’s western city of Khmelnytskyi and have a voltage of 400 kV.”
Olexander Motsyk, an aide to Ukraine’s energy minister, said that the new link would enable the „export and import of power.” He added that his country could return the favor by helping to support Poland „in the field of nuclear energy.”
According to panelists at yesterday’s session on European energy security, nuclear energy could provide 20 to 25 percent of Poland’s energy mix, with a proposal to construct Poland’s first nuclear reactor by 2033.
In addition to the potential for nuclear power, Naimski also told reporters that Poland would seek to speed up the completion of a floating storage regasification unit (FRSG) for liquid natural gas (LNG) in the Bay of Gdańsk, partly in response to increasing demand for LNG from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Like most other EU countries, Poland is looking to become wholly independent from Russian energy exports after Russia invaded Ukraine and Moscow demanded that countries pay for gas deliveries in rubles.
The National Energy Summit continues today at the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk.
Source: Radio Gdańsk, Radio Poland
Polish tennis star Hubert Hurkacz has won the men’s doubles competition at the Stuttgart Open tennis tournament in Germany, along with his partner Mate Pavić of Croatia.
The team saw off Germany’s Tim Pütz and New Zealand’s Michael Venus 7-6, 7-6 in the championship match on Sunday to claim their first title together.
In April, Hurkacz won the men’s doubles title at the Miami Open tournament in the US state of Florida, together with American John Isner. He will face off today against Maxime Cressy of the United States in the Men’s Singles competition of the Halle Open tennis tournament in Germany. The match is set for 13:20 CEST.
Source: Radio Poland, atptour.com
Weather
Today will be mostly sunny and warm, with very little chance of rain and a strong breeze coming in from the northwest. Temperatures will peak around a high of 18°C, or 65°F, dropping to an overnight low of 12°C or 53°F. Similar weather is expected tomorrow, with temperatures heating up over the holiday weekend.
Posłuchaj:
Elizabeth Peck/MarWer
