The battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk continues to rage, as local authorities say Russia now controls most of the key city.
“The night was difficult,” Alexander Struck, head of the Severodonetsk city military administration, told national television on Thursday morning. “Our armed forces control part of the city – the industrial zone and the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Struck said about 10,000 people remained in the city. The industrial zone – which contains the Azot chemical plant, where about 800 people are said to have taken refuge last week – came under heavy shelling at night, he said.
No one was injured in the chemical plant overnight, and “the bomb shelter also survived,” Sergei Haidai, head of the Luhansk region’s military administration, told Telegram on Thursday.
“The blasts damaged at least two plants at the chemical plant,” Heidei said. “One of them is key – for the production of ammonia 1-B. However, there are no emissions of chemicals in the environment – all fertilizers and chemicals, according to the owner of the company, were exported from the territory on the second day of the war.
Earlier on Thursday, in an interview with national television, Hadei said “street battles” were still raging in the city.
The situation there is developing quite dynamically, “Heidei said.
“Russia is constantly firing on the part that is controlled by the Ukrainians. They are constantly firing artillery, and very powerfully, “he added.” And they are dismantling the houses floor by floor. In that sense, it is very difficult. “
Hayday said he believed Russia wanted to take over the entire city by the weekend, in time for Russia’s Day on Sunday, but would not achieve that goal.
“As soon as we have long-range artillery so that we can conduct artillery duels with Russian artillery, our special forces can clear the city in two to three days,” he said.
A commander of the National Guard, who is fighting for control of the city, told national television on Thursday that he had “catastrophically missing artillery barrels”.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Wednesday night that “in many respects the fate of our Donbass is being decided there,” in Severodonetsk.
On Wednesday, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, said his army was making progress in a so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“You will see the liberation of all districts in Donetsk and Luhansk,” he said. “We hope this will happen soon.”
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