KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP) – Russia’s ruined eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk appears on the verge of becoming another Mariupol on Monday, as the mayor told the Associated Press that Russian troops had entered, power and communications cut off, and “the city is completely destroyed. “
Moscow is seeking to take over Ukraine’s entire industrial Donbass, and Severodonetsk is key to that. Fierce street fights are taking place in the city, while Ukrainian defenders are trying to drive out the Russians, Mayor Alexander Stryuk told the AP in a telephone interview. Russian troops have advanced several blocks to the city center, he said.
“The number of victims is growing by the hour, but we cannot count the dead and wounded in the street fighting,” the mayor added. He said 12,000 to 13,000 civilians left in the city, which once held more than 100,000 people, were sheltering in basements and bunkers to escape Russian bombing.
Russian forces stormed Severodonetsk after unsuccessfully trying to encircle it, and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky described the situation as “indescribably difficult.” Russian artillery shelling destroyed critical infrastructure and damaged 90% of buildings. The mayor estimates that 1,500 civilians in the city have died since the start of the war from Russian attacks, as well as a lack of medicine or treatment.
Sieverodonetsk, 143 kilometers (89 miles) south of the Russian border, has emerged in recent days as the epicenter of fighting in the Donbass. Mariupol is the city on the Sea of Azov, which spent nearly three months under Russian siege before the last Ukrainian fighters surrendered.
The Ukrainian military said Russian forces were strengthening their positions on the northeastern and southeastern outskirts of Severodonetsk and importing additional equipment and ammunition to push back their offensive.
Luhansk Regional Governor Sergei Haidai said the Russians were also pushing for nearby Lisichansk. He said two civilians had been killed and five others wounded in the latest Russian shelling during the war.
Severodonetsk and Lisichansk cover the strategically important Siversky Donetsk River. They are the last large Ukrainian-controlled areas in Luhansk, which makes up the Donbass along with the neighboring Donetsk region.
The Washington-based Institute for War Studies, a Washington-based think tank, has questioned the Kremlin’s strategy of amassing huge military efforts to seize Severodonetsk, saying it is costly for Russia and will bring little return.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told French television station TF1 on Sunday that “Moscow’s unconditional priority is the liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” adding that Russia sees them as “independent states.” He also suggested that other regions of Ukraine be able to establish close ties with Russia.
The Ukrainian army has reported heavy fighting around Donetsk, the regional capital, and the estuary to the north, a small town that serves as a key railway hub in the region. “The enemy is reinforcing its units,” said the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “He’s trying to fortify himself in the area.”
Authorities in a Russian-backed separatist region say at least five civilians have been killed in the latest Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk, including a 13-year-old boy.
Zelensky on Monday will address European Union leaders gathering in a new demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine amid divisions over whether to target Russian oil in a new series of sanctions. He has repeatedly urged the EU to focus on Russia’s lucrative energy sector and deprive Moscow of billions of dollars every day in payments for supplies.
Zelensky visited troops Sunday in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, where Ukrainian fighters pushed Russian forces out of close positions a few weeks ago. Russia continued to bomb the northeastern city, and explosions could be heard soon after Zelensky’s visit. The shelling and airstrikes have destroyed more than 2,000 apartment buildings since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, according to regional governor Oleh Sinegubov.
In the wider Kharkiv region, Russian troops still held about a third of the territory, Zelensky said.
Russian pressure continued south on Monday. A spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that an artillery strike on the shipyard in the southern port of Nikolaev destroyed Ukrainian armored vehicles parked on its territory.
In the Kherson region, Russia’s deputy deputy head of the regional administration, Kirill Stremusov, told Russia’s state-run Tass news agency that grain from last year’s harvest was delivered to Russian buyers, adding that “there is obviously a lot of grain here.” Ukraine has accused Russia of plundering grain from territories it owns, and the United States has said Moscow is threatening global food supplies by preventing Ukraine from harvesting.
In Mariupol on Sunday, an aide to the Ukrainian mayor claimed that after Russian forces gained full control of the city, they had piled up the bodies of dead people in a supermarket. Petro Andryushchenko posted a photo in the Telegram messaging app showing corpses lined up next to closed supermarket counters. It was not possible to confirm his claim immediately.
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Juras Karmanau reported from Lviv. AP reporters from around the world contributed to this report.
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Follow the coverage of the AP for the war in Ukraine
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