Football stopped in Ukraine after the Russian invasion, the question is when it will resume, but the leaders of Ukrainian football are looking for a solution.
Valeri Peresoliak, president of the Minai club, which plays in the Ukrainian first league, announced that the new season could be played in Turkey because of the war.
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The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine published new information on Facebook this evening, the BBC reports:
- The main focus of Russian forces was on the Donetsk direction, where they used aircraft, artillery and mortars. They intensified offensive and assault operations in some areas.
- In the Severodonetsk region of Luhansk, Russian forces launched an assault, suffered losses and retreated to previously occupied positions.
- Fighting continues in areas northeast of Kharkiv, where Russian troops are trying to hold previously occupied positions and sometimes try to launch counterattacks to regain control of those settlements that have been recaptured by Ukrainian armed forces in recent days.
- The Russian forces are demoralized, suffer significant losses and some personnel do not receive payments
The BBC said it was unable to independently verify this information.
The National Guard of Ukraine published a video today, which allegedly shows the destruction of the bridge connecting Sverodonetsk with Rubizhny in the Luhansk region, the BBC reports.
The special operation of the Ukrainian security forces aims to slow down the advance of Russian troops in the Lugansk region.
The BBC says it could not independently verify the images.
The deputy commander of the Azov regiment, Svyatoslav Palamar, posted a video message on Telegram in which he said: "Glory to Ukraine! It is the 85th day of the war. The leadership and I are in the premises of the Azovstal factory. A certain operation is taking place, the details of which I will not reveal. I thank the whole world and Ukraine for their support. See you later."
This was reported by the BBC, which states that it is not clear what operation he is referring to.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken accused Russia of using food as a weapon in Ukraine by holding "hostage" the food supply not only for millions of Ukrainians, but also for millions around the world who rely on Ukrainian exports.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council, Blinken appealed to Russia to stop blocking Ukrainian ports, Reuters reported.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, calling the aggression a "special military operation."
"The Russian government seems to think that using food as a weapon will help achieve what its invasion did not - to break the spirit of the Ukrainian people," Blinken said.
The war in Ukraine has caused a spike in global prices of grain, cooking oil, fuel and fertilizer.
Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies.
Ukraine is also a major exporter of corn, barley, sunflower and beet oil.
Russia's ambassador to the UN Vasiliy Nebenzya said that it is "absolutely false" that Russia is to blame for the global food crisis, which has been "in the making for several years".
He accused Ukraine of keeping foreign ships in its ports and laying mines in the waters, and said the Russian military had repeatedly tried to open safe corridors for ships.
Nebenzja blamed Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the war in Ukraine for having a chilling effect on Russian food and fertilizer exports. Blinken rejected Russian claims that sanctions are fueling the food crisis.
"As a result of the actions of the Russian government, about 20 million tons of grain remain unused in Ukrainian silos, while the global supply of food is decreasing, prices are skyrocketing," said Blinken.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is trying to broker a "package deal" that will allow Ukraine to continue exporting food across the Black Sea and revive Russian food and fertilizer production on world markets.
"There is enough food for everyone in the world. The issue is distribution, and it is deeply connected to the war in Ukraine," Guterres said before the Security Council.
At least 12 people were killed and 40 were wounded today in the Russian shelling of the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, which is virtually surrounded by Russian forces, the regional government announced.
The Russians started shelling the regional center with heavy weapons before noon, and the shelling continues, Sergej Gaidaj wrote via Telegram.
He said that residential buildings were mostly targeted and that the balance could be heavier since it is impossible to examine the affected zones for the time being.
Severodonetsk Mayor Oleksandar Strijuk said on May 6 that his city is "virtually surrounded" by Russian soldiers and pro-Russian separatists from the Donbass who are trying to take control of the entire region.
He said that there are still about 15.000 of the 100.000 inhabitants in the city that were there before the war.
Severodonetsk, one of several important cities in the region that is still in Ukrainian hands, as well as the neighboring city of Lysichank, located 80 kilometers east of Kramatorsk, which has become the administrative center of the Ukrainian part of Donbass since the separatists seized the eastern part of that large basin in 2014.
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The Reuters agency published photos from the village of Malaya Rohan in the Kharkiv region that were recovered by Ukrainian forces.
The heads of the American and Russian armies, General Mark Milley and General Valery Gerasimov, spoke by phone today, the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon announced.
Milli and Gerasimov discussed a number of security issues of concern, US Army General Staff spokesman Col. Dave Butler said.
They agreed not to publish details of the conversation.
Today, the European Parliament voted for a one-year suspension of customs duties on the import of goods from Ukraine in order to support the economy of that war-torn country.
515 members of the European Parliament voted for that temporary measure, 32 were against, and 11 abstained.
The measure includes the suspension of customs duties on the import of industrial products, fruit, vegetables and steel.
The EU is the most important trading partner of Ukraine, with a share of over 40 percent in its trade exchange last year.
Before the war, Ukraine was the EU's 15th largest trading partner, with a share of about 1,2 percent of its trade.
In 2016, the EU and Ukraine signed an association agreement aimed at opening Ukrainian markets and deepening the country's connections with Europe.
French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his concern about the risk of the Ukrainian war spreading to surrounding countries, when he received the president of Moldova, a neighbor of Ukraine.
"The spread of the conflict to neighboring countries cannot be ruled out," Macron said today, pointing to "recent incidents" in the Moldovan region of Transnistria, where Russian troops are already stationed and where there were explosions, AP reports.
"France remains particularly alert to the security situation in the region," the French president said.
He praised the help provided by Moldova to refugees from Ukraine.
The small pro-Western former Soviet republic is facing an influx of refugees from Ukraine.
Macron called on European leaders to give a quick first response to Moldova's submitted application for EU membership.
Moldovan President Maja Sandu welcomed Macron's "initiative" on the formation of a European political community, which, according to her, would allow Moldova to "accelerate" its accession to the European Union, France Press reports.
"I welcome President Macron's initiative to form a European political community that will support and speed up our EU accession process," she said in a statement with her French counterpart in front of the Elysée Palace.
She said that Moldova is a country that has a European history and will undoubtedly have a European future, expressing Chisinau's "determination" to become an EU member state.
She said that she understands that it is a long and complex process, which requires a lot of effort and work, that Moldova is not looking to shorten that path, that it is ready to make an effort.
Moldova applied for EU membership on March 3, as did Georgia on the same day, while Ukraine applied on February 28.
About 450.000 Ukrainian refugees entered Moldova and tens of thousands of them, half of whom are children, remained, Sandu said.
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Ukrainian General Alexei Gromov said Thursday that the evacuation of Ukrainian soldiers from the city of Mariupol was continuing, but did not provide details.
"Measures are being taken in the direction of Mariupol to evacuate our heroes," Alexey Gromov, deputy chief of the Main Operations Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said at an online briefing.
Moscow said on Thursday that 1.730 Ukrainian fighters had surrendered in Mariupol over three days, including 771 in the past 24 hours.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday that, if it were to listen to the appeal of the United Nations to open access to the Black Sea ports of Ukraine, it should also consider lifting sanctions against Russia, reports Reuters.
Ukraine, one of the world's largest grain producers, used to export most of its goods through its seaports, but since Russia sent troops to Ukraine, it has been forced to export by train or through its small ports on the Danube.
UN food chief David Beasley appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, saying: "If you have any heart at all, please open these ports."
Beazley's World Food Program feeds about 125 million people and buys 50% of its grain from Ukraine.
It is "not advisable" for companies to go beyond European Commission guidance on how to continue paying for Russian gas without violating EU sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, a Commission spokesman said on Thursday.
"We have given guidance to member states saying what they can do," the spokesman said.
"What they can do is open a bank account in the currency of the contract they have with Gazprom, make a payment to that bank account in the currency of the contract and issue a statement that this means they have fulfilled their contractual obligation and we do not consider that anything else recommended".
Britain said on Thursday it was introducing new sanctions against Russia's aviation sector to prevent state-owned Aeroflot, Ural Airlines and Rossia Airlines from selling their unused slots at British airports.
"We have already closed our airspace to Russian airlines. Today we are making sure that they cannot cash in on their lucrative slots at our airports," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.
The British government said it estimated the landing slots to be worth 50 million pounds ($61,9 million).
Poland will help Sweden and Finland if they are attacked before they get NATO membership, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.
"I consider the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO an important signal of strengthening security in Europe," he said during the conference.
"I want to make it clear that in the event of an attack on Sweden or Finland during their accession (process), Poland will come to the rescue."
Finland and Sweden formally applied to join the NATO alliance on Wednesday, a decision prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and launching an accession process expected to take just a few weeks.
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