INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russian forces said Sunday they had struck a site in western Ukraine storing US- and EU-supplied weapons, as fighting intensified in an
eastern region where the country's top commander said the land "is covered in blood."The strike on the town of Chortkiv, a rare attack by
Russia in the relatively calm west of Ukraine, left 22 people injured, the regional governor said.Meanwhile the situation in Severodonetsk
was "extremely difficult," after the Russian army destroyed a second bridge into the city and was heavily bombarding the last one, regional
governor Sergiy Gaiday said.Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian military, said Russia's massed artillery in that region
gave it a tenfold advantage.But, he added in a Facebook post, "Despite everything, we continue to hold positions
Zelensky described the latest fighting in Severodonetsk as "very fierce..
need to tackle global food security threatened by Russia's invasion of wheat-producing Ukraine.Tensions ran high during a closed-door
session, where several delegates took the floor to condemn Russia's war, including Kyiv's envoy who was met with a standing ovation, WTO
spokesman Dan Pruzin told journalists.Then, just before Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov spoke, around three dozen
delegates "walked out," the spokesman said.That came a day after the head of the European Commission promised Ukraine would receive a clear
signal within a week on its bid to join the European Union."Ukraine has achieved a lot in the past 10 years and much still needs to be done
Our opinion will reflect this carefully," Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said at the end of a surprise visit to Kyiv.EU leaders are
laid bare by Russia's invasion
support.Extremely difficultThe war has prompted Finland and Sweden to give up decades of military non-alignment and seek to join the NATO
alliance.However, Turkey is blocking their bids and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday the issue may not be resolved by an alliance
summit later this month.The United States and Europe have sent weapons and cash to help Ukraine blunt Russia's advance, alongside punishing
Moscow with unprecedented economic sanctions.Russia's defense ministry said the strike on Chortkiv destroyed a "large depot of anti-tank
missile systems, portable air defense systems and shells provided to the Kyiv regime by the US and European countries."Regional governor
Volodymyr Trush said four missiles fired Saturday evening from the Black Sea had partially destroyed a military installation in the town,
firepower, Severodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk have been targeted for weeks as the last areas in the Luhansk region still under Ukrainian
control.Regional governor Gaiday said the Russians, by attacking Severodonetsk's last remaining bridges, wanted to cut off the city
completely.He said Russia was shelling the Azot chemical plant, where about 800 civilians have reportedly taken refuge.However Leonid
Pasechnik, leader of Luhansk's pro-Russian separatists, accused Ukrainian battalions of shelling Severodonetsk from the plant.He told
environmental catastrophe."Concern eased Sunday over another volatile facility: Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, in Zaporizhzhia
Captured months ago by Russian forces but still operated by Ukrainians, the station had ceased transmitting vital safeguards data two weeks
Grossi, director general of the UN agency, said it still wanted to send inspectors to the plant "as soon as possible."Sentences
defendedAlongside the physical fighting, the war is being played out through the courts.Pro-Moscow separatist authorities in the Donetsk
region this week sentenced to death two Britons and a Moroccan for fighting with Kyiv.The sentences sparked outrage in Western countries,
but separatist Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin said Sunday he would not alter them."They came to Ukraine to kill civilians for money," he told
reporters, calling the punishment "perfectly fair."The families of Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner say they have been living in Ukraine
since 2018.For their part, Ukrainian courts have handed three Russian soldiers long prison sentences at war crimes trials.
