It's HELL! Ukraine says Donbas region destroyed by Russia - devastation in PICS

Ukraine's industrial Donbas region, the focus of recent Russian offensives, has been destroyed, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said as some of the world's richest countries pledged to bolster Kyiv with billions of dollars. (Pic: Reuters)

Since turning away from Ukraine's capital, Russia is using massed artillery and armour to try to capture more territory in the Donbas, comprised of the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, which Moscow claims on behalf of separatists. "The occupiers are trying to exert even more pressure. It is hell there - and that is not an exaggeration," Zelenskiy said in a late Thursday (May 19) address, reported Reuters. (Pic: Reuters)

Five civilians were killed in Donetsk on Thursday, according to regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, reports Reuters. "The enemy is destroying all civil infrastructure even in places relatively far from the front line," he told local television. Reuters could not immediately verify the information. Moscow denies targeting civilians. (Pic: Reuters)

Russia's siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol neared its end on Thursday, with hundreds of fighters still holed up in the Azovstal steel works. (Pic: Reuters)

Ukraine has exported 643,000 tonnes of grain since the start of May, considerably less than during the same period last year. US Secretary of State Blinken accused Russia of using food as a weapon. US Secretary-General Guterres said he is in "intense contact" with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union to restore Ukrainian grain exports. (Pic: Reuters

Moscow calls its invasion a "special military operation" to rid Ukraine of fascists, an assertion Kyiv and its Western allies say is a baseless pretext for an unprovoked war. Russia has intensified its offensive and assault operations in Donetsk, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said. (Pic: Reuters)

The past week has seen Russia secure its biggest victory since the invasion began, with Kyiv announcing it had ordered its garrison in a steelworks in Mariupol to stand down, after a protracted siege of the city. Russian forces have, however, been pushed back this month from the outskirts of the second-largest city Kharkiv. Ukraine says it has recaptured 23 settlements near Kharkiv in the last two weeks. (Pic: Reuters)