Ukraine says it is holding back Russian advance in Donetsk

Ukraine has so far thwarted an attempted Russian advance into the north of its Donetsk region but the city of Sloviansk and other civilian areas are being heavily shelled Ukrainian officials said on WednesdayRussia has increased its focus on Donetsk the southern part of which it and its proxies already control after completing its seizure of the neighbouring Luhansk region on Sunday with the capture of LysychanskMoscow says fully pushing the Ukrainian military out of both regions is central to what it calls its ldquospecial military operationrdquo to ensure its own security a now fourmonthslong offensive which the West calls an unprovoked war of aggression Donetsk and Luhansk comprise the Donbas the industrialised eastern part of Ukraine that has seen the biggest battle in Europe for generations and which Russia wants to wrest control of on behalf of Moscowbacked separatists in two selfproclaimed peoplersquos republicsUkrainian officials said heavy fighting had been taking place as Russian forces tried to push from Luhansk into Donetsk region and towards the city of SlovianskldquoWe are holding back the enemy on the border of Luhansk region and Donetsk regionrdquo Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian television He said Russian regular army and reserve forces had been sent there in an apparent effort to cross the Siverskiy Donets River ldquoLuhansk region even now is fighting Almost all the territory has been captured but in two settlements fighting is ongoingrdquo he saidVadym Lyakh the mayor of Sloviansk told a video briefing on Wednesday the city had been shelled for the last two weeks ldquoThe situation is tenserdquo he saidKharkiv struck yet againRussian forces also hit Kharkiv with missile strikes overnight the governor of Kharkiv region Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram on WednesdayGas storage troubleUkraine has 11 billion cubic metres bcm of natural gas in underground storage versus a government target of 19 bcm the head of its gas transmission system operator said on WednesdayldquoThis winter will probably be the most difficult in our historyrdquo Sergiy Makogon chief executive of the transmission system operator told a news briefing ldquoAt the moment in underground storage sites there is around 11 bcm of the 19 bcm the cabinet wantsrdquo Makogon said before Russiarsquos invasion Ukraine used around 30 bcm a year of gas but that he expected consumption would shrink to around 2122 bcm a yearRussian court orders halt to Caspian oil pipelineCaspian Pipeline Consortium CPC which takes oil from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea via one of the worldrsquos largest pipelines has been told by a Russian court to suspend activity for 30 days although sources said exports were still flowing CPC which handles about 137 of global oil said the ruling related to paperwork on oil spills and said the consortium which includes US firms Chevron and Exxon had to abide by itThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever