Ukraine said on Thursday its forces were holding their positions in intense fighting in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk and had retaken ground in the south, targeting gains in the biggest swathe of territory seized by Russia since the invasion started.
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Russia has concentrated its invasion force around Sievierodonetsk, a small industry city now bombed to ruins. Ukraine says its only hope to turn the tide toward victory is more artillery to offset Russia's massive firepower.
Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river are the last Ukrainian-controlled parts of Luhansk province, which Moscow is determined to seize as one of its principal war objectives.
"They [the Russians] are dying like flies ... fierce fighting continues inside Sievierodonetsk," Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said.
Gaidai predicted the Russians would try to take advantage of low water levels to cross the Siverskyi Donets river. "We are watching and if anything happens we will act proactively."
In the south, where Moscow is trying to impose its rule on a tract of territory spanning Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, Ukraine's defense ministry said it had captured new ground in a counter-attack in Kherson province.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening address that Ukraine also had "some positive developments in the Zaporizhzhia region, where we are succeeding in disrupting the occupiers' plans." He did not provide details.
Reuters could not independently verify the situation on the ground in Zaporizhzhia or Kherson. Russian-installed proxies in both provinces say they are planning referendums to join Russia.
Meanwhile, pro-Moscow rebels on Thursday sentenced two British citizens and a Moroccan were sentenced to death Thursday for fighting on Ukraine's side.
The proceedings against the three captured fighters were denounced by Ukraine and the West as a sham and a violation of the rules of war.
A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in Ukraine found the three fighters guilty of seeking the violent overthrow of power, an offense punishable by death in the unrecognized eastern republic. The men were also convicted of mercenary activities and terrorism.
Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti reported that the defendants – identified as Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Brahim Saadoun – will face a firing squad. They have a month to appeal.
The separatist side argued that the three were "mercenaries" not entitled to the usual protections accorded prisoners of war. They are the first foreign fighters sentenced by Ukraine's Russian-backed rebels.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko condemned the proceedings as legally invalid, saying, "Such show trials put the interests of propaganda above the law and morality." He said that all foreign citizens fighting as part of Ukraine's armed forces should be considered Ukrainian military personnel and protected as such.
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Saadoun's father, Taher Saadoun, told the Moroccan online Arab-language newspaper Madar 21 that his son is not a mercenary and that he holds Ukrainian citizenship.
Aslin's and Pinner's families have said that the two men were long-serving members of the Ukrainian military. Both are said to have lived in Ukraine since 2018.
The three men fought alongside Ukrainian troops before Pinner and Aslin surrendered to pro-Russian forces in the southern port of Mariupol in mid-April and Saadoun was captured in mid-March in the eastern city of Volnovakha.
Another British fighter taken prisoner by the pro-Russian forces, Andrew Hill, is awaiting trial.
One of two breakaway eastern Ukrainian regions backed by Moscow on Thursday said it would soon start rail shipments to Russia of grain that its troops had "liberated", Tass news agency reported.
Yuri Pronko, agricultural minister of the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic, said that until now, the grain had been sent by truck in relatively small amounts.
"Tomorrow is a historical moment - the first wagons of grain will go Russia, 50 wagons, more than 3,000 tons," Tass cited him as saying.
Ukraine had previously accused Russia of stealing its grain from the territories Moscow occupied since launching what it calls a special military operation in February.
Tass said grain elevators "in the liberated part" of the Luhansk republic contained around 300,000 tons of winter wheat and 200,000 tons of sunflower seeds, which it referred to as the remains of previous harvests. It did not give details.
Pronko said the elevators were about half full and to free them up for future harvests, around 120 to 130 wagons of grain would have to be exported every day.
