Muristek
Kyiv/Oslo, May 22
Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or concessions to Moscow on Saturday as Russia intensified an offensive in the eastern Donbas region and stopped providing gas to Finland.
After ending weeks of resistance by the last Ukrainian fighters in the strategic southeastern city of Mariupol, Russia is waging what appears to be a major offensive in Luhansk, one of two provinces in Donbas.
Russian-backed separatists already controlled swathes of territory in Luhansk and the neighbouring Donetsk province before the February 24 invasion, but Moscow wants to seize the last remaining Ukrainian-held territory in Donbas.
"The situation in Donbas is extremely difficult," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. The Russian army was trying to attack the cities of Sloviansk and Sievierodonetsk, but Ukrainian forces were holding off their advance, he said.
Earlier, Zelenskyy said although the fighting would be bloody, the end would come only through diplomacy and the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory would be temporary.
Zelenskyy advisor Mykhailo Podolyak ruled out agreeing to a ceasefire and said Kyiv would not accept any deal with Moscow that involved ceding territory. He said making concessions would backfire on Ukraine because Russia would hit back harder after any break in fighting.
"The war will not stop (after concessions). It will just be put on pause for some time," Podolyak, Ukraine's lead negotiator, told Reuters. "They'll start a new offensive, even more bloody and large-scale."
Recent calls for an immediate ceasefire have come from the US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
The end of fighting in Mariupol, the biggest city Russia has captured, could be crucial to its ambitions in Donbas. It gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a rare victory after a series of setbacks in nearly three months of combat.
The last Ukrainian forces holed up Mariupol's vast Azovstal steelworks surrendered on Friday, Russia said.
Full control of Mariupol gives Russia command of a land route linking the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014, with mainland Russia and areas of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russia separatists.
Gas dispute
Russia's state gas company, Gazprom, said it halted gas exports to Finland, which refused Moscow's demands to pay in roubles for Russian gas after Western countries imposed sanctions over the invasion.
Finland and Sweden applied this week to join the NATO military alliance.
Moscow says Western sanctions, along with arms deliveries for Kyiv, amount to a "proxy war" by the United States and its allies.
Thousands of people in Ukraine have been killed in the war that has displaced millions and shattered cities.