(Bloomberg) -- Russia pushed Ukrainian troops out of the center of Sievierodonetsk, the government’s last major foothold in the eastern region of Luhansk. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the fighting “very fierce,” and the regional governor said Russian troops now control 80% of the city.

Wall Street giants JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are withdrawing from handling trades of Russian debt after the Biden administration’s surprise announcement last week that it’s banning US investors from scooping up such assets.

 

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

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  • JPMorgan, Goldman Halt Russia Debt Trading After US Tightens Ban

(All times CET)

Sievierodonetsk Situation Difficult, Says Official (8:42 a.m.)

Russian forces are pushing on in their attack on the eastern city and shelled a chemical plant where 540 to 560 local people are sheltering, Oleksandr Stryuk, head of Sievierodonetsk military administration, said on national television. 

There is a stockpile of provisions at the shelter. Ukrainian forces are fighting to maintain their foothold in Sievierodonetsk and are evacuating civilians sporadically but conditions are “above difficult,” Stryuk said. 

Luhansk’s regional governor Serhiy Haiday said Russian forces have also been shelling and storming the villages around Sievierodonetsk.

Finland Gives Fortum Time to Exit Russia (8:28 a.m.)

Finland is prepared to give Fortum Oyj time to sell its Russian power plants and follow other western energy companies out of Russia.

The departure of the state-controlled utility is the next step in severing energy ties between the two neighbors after Russia halted exports of both electricity and gas in the past few weeks. Fortum, which operates seven thermal power plants in the Ural region and western Siberia, said last month it would prefer to sell them as part of the exit. 

“No country could allow power plants shutting overnight,” said Tytti Tuppurainen, the Finnish minister for European affairs, who oversees state holdings in Fortum and other important companies. “Therefore we understand that this exit has to be a managed one” and that it “cannot happen overnight.”

Portugal PM Says Europe Should Focus on Aid (6:01 a.m.)

Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa said in an interview with the Financial Times that the European Union should focus on providing help quickly to Ukraine instead of holding “legal debates” over the lengthy process of whether to designate the country as a candidate for membership. 

“My focus is to obtain in the next European Council a clear commitment on the urgent support and to build a long term platform to support the recovery of Ukraine,” he told the newspaper in London. “This is my main priority. The most important are not legal debates about Ukraine but practical deliveries.”

Russia Controls 80% of Sievierodonetsk (5:17 a.m.)

Russian forces control now as much as 80% of Sievierodonetsk city, according to Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haiday.

All three bridges linked to the city in the eastern Luhansk region have been destroyed, he said, and it’s not possible to evacuate civilians or bring in humanitarian aid. “The situation is difficult,” he said.

The Ukrainian General Staff said in its morning update that Russia reinforced its units near Sievierodonetsk, moving as many as two battalion tactical groups to an area in the vicinity of nearby towns Rubizhne and Kreminna.

JPMorgan, Goldman Halt Russia Debt Trades (11:15 p.m.)

JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs were still matching sellers who wanted out of Russian debts with interested buyers this month, according to market professionals. 

Now, JPMorgan is pulling back after the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said investors in the US aren’t allowed to acquire them, a person with knowledge of the decision said. A spokesperson for Goldman said it’s halting such transactions, too.

The Treasury Department’s announcement late June 6, stepping up financial sanctions, caught market participants off guard and set off a flurry of talks with lawyers.

Read more: JPMorgan, Goldman Halt Russia Debt Trading After US Tightens Ban

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