INTERNATIONAL: The Russian army said on Monday that it is going to seize Sviatohirsk, a city in Donetsk region, with the pressure placed on the Ukrainian side which saw a critical situation in northern Donetsk city, and Ukrainian President Zelenskiy say’s a ‘heroic defence’ of Donbas is ongoing.

Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for Russian Ministry of Defense, said at Monday's daily briefing that the Russian army knocked down on a military facility in Ukraine's Kharkov region that was used to repair armed vehicles. In the meantime, Russia has also destroyed Ukrainian fighter jets and drones in regions of Kharkov, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk, as the Russian troops are going to take full control of Sviatohirsk and its surrounding areas in Donetsk region.

An official of the Donetsk city said that the Ukrainian forces had continued their strikes on the city on Monday with a spate of missiles and rocket shells, which damaged a hospital, several buildings and infrastructure facilities in the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said that Russia is planning to capture Zaporizhzhia, a major city in southeastern Ukraine. He also added that the situation in northern Donetsk remained critical, as larger and stronger Russian troops stationed there.

Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna, remain the most difficult places, Zelenskiy said in a video statement on Tuesday evening.

“The situation on the front lines hasn’t changed much over the last 24 hours”, he said, adding that Russian troops were bringing in new resources towards Donbas and Kherson

The Ukrainian side said on the same day that the Russian Black Sea fleet has retreated to a place some 100 kilometers away from the Ukrainian coast, losing full control of the northwestern Black Sea.

Ukrainian prosecutors say they have registered more than 12,000 alleged war crimes involving more than 600 suspects since the Kremlin started its offensive on Feb. 24.

Zelenskiy also claimed that more than 31 thousand Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war, with Russia losing “almost 300 lives every day”. Reuters could not independently verify these figures.

Since being pushed back from Kyiv and Kharkiv, Russia has focused on the Ukrainian region known as the Donbas, comprised of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, and closest to the Russian border.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday said if the West decides to provide Ukraine with long-range strike weapons, Russia will act to remove that threat. He said that Ukraine is not willing to hold talks with Russia now; and Russia, the foreign minister added, could fully believe that such a move by the Ukrainian side is a result of following the order of Western leaders.

Also, on Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that additional 61 U.S. citizens have been barred from entering Russia in response to the sanctions repeatedly imposed by the United States. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm are among those blacklisted.

The new restrictions have made longer the list of Americans banned from entering Russia, on which there were 963 names when the Russian Foreign Ministry released it on May 21, including U.S. President Joe Biden.

To help Ukraine with its grain shipment, the Belarusian government said Monday that Ukraine could ship its grain via Belarus. But the Ukrainian government did not agree on such a proposal the same day, saying the anti-ship system provided by Western countries is the only secured way to unblock Ukrainian ports and export grain to other countries.

^{PHOTO:  SATELLITE IMAGES OF DAMAGED BUILDINGS IN DOWNTOWN SIEVIERODONETSK AND RUBIZHNE / ARTILLERY SHELLING AND EXPLOSIONS NORTHWEST OF SLOVIANSK}