Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 96

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 96th day, we take a look at the main developments.

Here are the key events so far on Monday, May 30.

Get the latest updates here.

Fighting

• Russian troops are moving deeper into the besieged Donbas city of Severodonetsk from the outskirts. Two civilians killed and five wounded by Russian shelling.
• All critical infrastructure in Severodonetsk has been destroyed and 90 percent of buildings damaged as Ukrainian forces battle to hold off Russian attempts to capture the key city in the eastern Luhansk region, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
• Ukrainian forces counterattack in the south, claiming to have pushed back Russian troops in Kherson – the only region fully controlled by Russian forces.
• Russian forces fired on 46 communities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, killing at least three civilians, wounding two others, and destroying or damaging 62 civilian buildings, Ukraine’s army said.
• Russia holds one-third of the Kharkiv region under its occupation, but Zelenskyy said Ukraine will “definitely liberate the entire territory”.
• The “liberation” of Ukraine’s Donbas is an “unconditional priority” for Moscow, while other Ukrainian territories should decide their future on their own, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
• Zelenskyy visited troops in the northeastern Kharkiv region. It was his first official appearance outside the Kyiv region since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
• Zelenskyy fired Kharkiv’s security services chief for “not working on the defence of the city” during the start of Russia’s invasion and “thinking only of himself”.
• The Russian defence ministry said Russian missiles have destroyed a large arsenal of the Ukrainian army in the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine.
• Ukraine prosecutor’s office in the Donetsk region opened five criminal proceedings into Russia’s use of heavy artillery on May 28 against the town of Toretsk, and villages in the Bakhmut and Pokrovsky districts.
• Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra, the winner of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, raised $900,000 for the country’s military by selling its trophy.

Diplomacy

• NATO is no longer bound by past commitments to hold back from deploying its forces in Eastern Europe following Russia’s invasion, Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said.
• Moscow “voided of any content” the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act, under which both sides agreed to work to prevent any potentially threatening build-up of conventional forces in agreed regions of Europe.
• French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna meets Ukraine’s president in Kyiv to express France’s solidarity with Ukraine and offer more support for the country.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said talks last week with Finnish and Swedish delegations were not at the “expected level”, and Ankara cannot say yes to “terrorism-supporting” countries entering NATO, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported.
• Russia is looking at all international treaties with the United States “in fields of scientific and educational cooperation” to analyse whether Russia’s participation in various joint organisations is feasible.
• Canada asked South Korea to supply it with artillery rounds, apparently to “backfill” supplies that Ottawa has sent to Ukraine.

Economy

• Top European Union diplomats meet on Monday for a last-ditch attempt to agree on a Russian oil embargo.
• Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic announced he secured an “extremely favourable” three-year natural gas supply deal with Russia amid efforts by the EU to phase out Russian energy supplies.
• New satellite imagery shows a Russian ship carrying grains – allegedly taken from Ukrainian farms – arrived in the Syrian port of Latakia.