‘Everything was going fine between us’ Putin says of NATO expansion; war grinds on in Ukraine with one city under ‘constant shelling’

The Ukrainian soldiers are in Luhansk. The governor of the Luhansk region said that the city of Lysychansk is under constant shelling.

Anatolii Stepanov is pictured.

The battle for control of the Donbas in the east continues to rage despite global attention being on the NATO summit in Spain.

The governor of the Luhansk region said that the city of Lysychansk is under constant shelling.

The city is under constant fire and the Orcs are constantly trying to storm it. Russian fighters are often described as "orcs" by Ukrainian officials.

The twin city of Lysychansk was seized by Russian forces last weekend after Ukrainian fighters retreated. Around 15,000 people are still in Lysychansk, although a quiet exit is taking place.

Russian troops are in the area of the oil refinery, and battles are ongoing, according to the General Staff of the armed forces of Ukraine.

Russia is trying to block the town of Lysychansk and take control of a section of the highway in the east of the country, according to the Ukrainian government.

The Luhansk and Donetsk regions are part of the wider Donbas in east Ukraine. Russia wants to control the territory where there are two pro-Russian rebel groups.

Russian President Putin said on Wednesday that the liberation of the Donbas was his main goal, as well as the creation of conditions that would guarantee the security of Russia itself.

There isn't anything to worry about in regards to Sweden becoming a NATO member. Putin told them to go ahead if they wanted to.

The images are from the same company.

Russia will respond in kind if NATO deploys infrastructure and troops in Sweden and Finland.

There isn't anything to worry about in regards to Sweden becoming a NATO member. He told them to go ahead if they wanted to.

They should know they didn't face any threats before this. If NATO infrastructure and troops are deployed, we will have to respond in kind and create the same threats for the territories where they are created.

Don't they know that? Things were going well but now there will be tension. It's obvious and inescapable.

NATO leaders and their allies met in Madrid on wednesday. The alliance called Russia a direct threat to its security at the summit. Sweden and Finn were welcomed to join the alliance.

When it came to applying to join NATO, the leaders of both Nordic countries said the Russian invasion of Ukraine changed their minds. Russia is upset by the expansion of its land border with NATO. It borders five other NATO members and has a 830-mile border with prospective memberFinland.

Holly Ellyatt is a person.

The Azov soldiers are in the Kharkiv region of Ukranian. According to the British government, the U.K. will give another 1 billion pounds to the Ukrainian army.

Paula Bronstein is a news person.

According to the British government, the U.K. will provide an additional 1 billion pounds in military aid to Ukraine.

Air defense systems, new electronic warfare equipment, and equipment for Ukrainian soldiers are some of the things that will be boosted by the new funding.

Ukranian defences are being transformed by UK weaponry and equipment. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement that the UK would continue to support the Ukrainian people.

In May, Britain promised a further 1.3 billion pounds in military support and aid to Ukraine.

A new training program for Ukrainian forces has been announced by the UK.

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The Secretary of State spoke about US policy towards China at an event hosted by the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Agence France-Presse has a photo of JimWatson.

The Secretary of State said that the U.S. has not seen meaningful Russian diplomacy.

"We have not seen any interest on the part of Vladimir Putin in engaging in any kind of meaningful diplomatic initiative." He said that it was important that the Ukrainians defined the terms of any potential negotiation.

According to America's top diplomat, the U.S. will continue to provide security assistance to Ukraine.

He said that at some point,Ukraine will have the strongest possible hand at the negotiation table.

The person isAmanda Macias.

A Ukrainian serviceman talks by phone as he walks through the rubble of a building that was hit by a Russian missile during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Agence France-Presse has images of Sergey Bobok.

According to an NBC News translation, a Ukrainian official said that Russia will push its war into NATO territory.

The head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app that history has taught them that the aggressor's appetite grows with each concession.

All of humanity is under threat because of that. NATO will inevitably be drawn into the war if Russia is not stopped inUkraine, he said.

Russia is starting to believe that it can't defeat Ukraine on the battlefield. He said that they resort to bloody terror and the killing of civilians because of that.

The person isAmanda Macias.

The president of Turkey addressed members of his ruling AK Party at the parliament in Ankara. This image has been supplied by a third party. There's no resale. There is no archival material. There is a citation credit.

The man is named Murat Cetinmuhurdar.

The president of the U.S. thanked the president of Turkey for agreeing to allow the two Nordic countries to join the NATO military alliance.

I would like to thank you for the work you are doing to try to get grain out of Ukraine, I was telling you, you are doing a great job. Biden thanked his Turkish counterpart.

The Turkish leader thanked Biden for the renewed U.S. commitment to strengthen NATO and said the alliance will have to work together to resolve a number of issues.

The person isAmanda Macias.

At least 20 people were killed and 59 others were injured when a missile slammed into a shopping mall in central Ukraine.

The video, which shows a machinery plant near the mall, was shown in the president's nightly address on Tuesday.

Several Ukrainian officials have said that the missile is a Kh-22, but CNBC has not been able to verify that.

The Kh-22 missiles were developed by the Soviet Union and used against the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers in the Cold War.

Western leaders condemned the strike on the shopping mall. Russia said it was targeting a depot of weapons donated by the U.S. and Europe that it said was near the mall.

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