Ukraine acknowledged difficulties in fighting in its east as Russian forces captured territory and intensified pressure on two cities ahead of an EU summit this week expected to welcome Kyiv’s bid to join the bloc. Follow FRANCE 24’s liveblog for all the latest developments. All times Paris time (GMT+2).
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8:19am: Ukraine’s Kherson region airs Russian TV, says Russian army
Russian television was now broadcasting in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the Russian army said on Tuesday, in an area where Moscow already introduced the rouble and began distributing Russian passports.
The Russian armed forces have “reconfigured the last of the seven television towers in the Kherson region to broadcast Russian television channels” for free, it said.
Bordering the Crimea peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, the Kherson region was occupied by Russian forces in the days following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
One of the pro-Moscow officials in the region, Kirill Stremousov, said on Tuesday that the territory could join Russia “before the end of the year.”
8:15am: Kremlin says Lithuania’s decision to bar some rail transit to Kaliningrad ‘a violation of everything’
Following Vilnius’ announcement last week that it would bar rail transit of EU-sanctioned goods from Russia via Lithuania to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday called it a “violation of everything”.
FRANCE 24’s correspondent Nick Holdsworth reports from Riga, Lativa.
‘The Russians are saying this threatens their national interest’
6:24am: Russia gains ground as…
Source : france24
