INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ukraine warned Monday that Russian forces were preparing to intensify their fight for key cities in the Donbas, where the death toll from a
weekend attack rose to 26 as rocket strikes killed six in the country's second city.The attacks in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine came as
Europe braced for deeper cuts in gas supplies from Russia.Kharkiv regional chief Oleg Synyegubov said Russian fire on Monday targeted "a
shopping center and civilian residences."Prosecutors in his region said "six civilians were killed, including a 17-year-old and his father,
the emergency services said.Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that "more than 300" Ukrainian combatants had been
killed in a Russian strike near Chasiv Yar, without giving a date.Having fought long battles to capture areas of the eastern Luhansk region,
Russian troops are now turning their focus to Donetsk as they look to take control of the whole Donbas.The eastern region was under
persistent shelling, but Russian ground attacks were all but paused, the Ukrainian army said Monday.'No safe place'It warned, however, that
Russian troops were likely planning to launch some of their heaviest attacks yet in the Donetsk region."There are signs of enemy units
preparing to intensify combat operations in the direction of Kramatorsk and Bakhmut," it said, referring to two main cities still under
Rutte during a visit to Kyiv said his country would supply Ukraine with more long-range artillery and an aid package worth 200 million euro
($201 million)."This war may last longer than we all hoped or expected
But that does not mean we can sit back and passively watch how it unfolds
We have to stay focused and continue to support Ukraine in every way," Rutte told a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr
National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said earlier Monday.In Bucha, a town outside Kyiv, 36-year-old web designer Maxim
said just three months ago, Russian soldiers were rummaging through his home and sleeping in his children's bedroom."In this atmosphere, I
there's no place safe in Ukraine right now."Gas worriesThe repercussions of the conflict were being felt in western Europe as Russian gas
giant Gazprom on Monday began more than a week of routine maintenance on its Nord Stream 1 pipeline.Germany and other European countries
cast a worried eye on energy supplies after Italy's Eni and Austria's OMV said Gazprom was further reducing the supply of gas.Eni said flows
were dropping to 21 million cubic meters (741 million cubic feet) per day, down from a recent average of about 32 million, while OMV said it
would see a 70% reduction.After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, Germany suspended certification of a second pipeline, Nord Stream
2, as fears grew over Europe's massive dependence on Russian gas.In a bureaucratic swipe at Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday
counterpart, strongman Alexander Lukashenko, meanwhile discussed possible joint measures against neighbouring Lithuania over its "illegal"
transit restrictions affecting Moscow's exclave of Kaliningrad.The Baltic country last month began to restrict transit of EU-sanctioned
goods into Kaliningrad, a Russian region sandwiched between NATO members Lithuania and Poland, infuriating Moscow.
