Russian and Ukrainian troops took part in a close battle in a city in eastern Ukraine on Sunday as Moscow troops backed by intense shelling struggled to gain strategic positions in the region as they faced fierce Ukrainian resistance.
Ukrainian regional authorities say Russian forces are storming Severodonetsk after unsuccessfully trying to encircle the city. Fighting has cut off power and mobile phones, and the humanitarian aid center could not operate due to danger, the mayor said.
Severodonetsk, a manufacturing center, is emerging as the epicenter of Russia’s bid to conquer Ukraine’s industrial Donbass. Russia has also stepped up efforts to take over nearby Lisichansk, where Ukrainian authorities have reported ongoing shelling.
The two cities, with a total pre-war population of about 200,000, are the last large Ukrainian-controlled areas in the Luhansk province, which makes up the Donbass along with neighboring Donetsk. Russia is focusing on capturing parts of the two that are not yet controlled by pro-Moscow separatists.
Russian forces have made little progress in recent days as bombing destroyed Ukrainian positions and trapped civilians in basements or desperately tried to get out safely. Attacks to destroy military targets across the country have also killed civilians.
The situation in the east is “indescribably difficult”: Zelenski
In a video address Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation in the east as “very complicated” and “indescribably difficult”. “The Russian army is trying to squeeze at least some result, concentrating its attacks there,” he said.
Severodonetsk Mayor Alexander Struck said there was a fight at the city’s bus station on Saturday. A humanitarian center could not operate because of the danger, Struck said, and his cell phone and electricity were cut off. Residents risk being exposed to shelling to get water from half a dozen wells, he said.
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Some supply routes were operational and evacuation of the wounded was still possible, Struck said. He estimated that 1,500 civilians in the city, which had a pre-war population of about 100,000, had died in the fighting, as well as a lack of drugs and diseases that could not be cured.
District Governor Sergei Haidai claims that the Russians withdrew “at a loss” around the village of Bobrove, about 20 kilometers southeast of Severodonetsk, but carried out air strikes in a nearby village on the strategic Siversky Donetsk River.
“The situation in Lisichansk is difficult due to constant shelling by the occupiers, there are dead and wounded,” he wrote in the Telegram, without specifying. On Saturday, he said one civilian was killed and four were injured when a Russian shell hit a high-rise apartment building. Local cinema and 22 other residential buildings were also damaged, he said.
The Ukrainian military said Sunday morning that Russian forces were trying to strengthen their positions around Lyman, a small town that serves as a key railway hub in the Donetsk region.
“The enemy is reinforcing its units,” said an operational update of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “It simply came to our notice then.
Moscow said on Saturday that it had captured Lyman, but there was no confirmation of this from the Kyiv authorities.
The Ukrainian army says heavy fighting is taking place around Donetsk, the provincial capital.
Zelensky visits troops in Kharkov
More broadly, Russia has launched renewed air strikes overnight in the northern Kharkiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine and in central Ukraine, Ukrainian state agencies reported.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Sunday that Russian shelling had caused fires around Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city. Russia has continued to bomb Kharkiv, located in northeastern Ukraine, after Ukrainian fighters withdrew its forces from positions near the city a few weeks ago.
Zelensky visited Kharkiv on Sunday. Regional Governor Oleh Sinegubov told the president that Russian troops remain in possession of about 30 per cent of the Kharkiv region, while Kyiv’s troops have taken another 5 per cent.
Zelensky also met with Ukrainian troops stationed in Kharkiv.
“I feel boundless pride in our defenders. Every day, risking their lives, they fight for the freedom of Ukraine,” he wrote in a Telegram post.
Debris hangs from a residential building badly damaged in a Russian bombing in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, on Saturday. (Francisco Seco / Associated Press)
Ukraine’s border guards say border areas in the Sumy region east of Kharkiv have been hit by six unguided missiles. The agency does not mention data on victims.
Russia has said its forces have destroyed an important Ukrainian ammunition depot in Krivoy Rog, a city in central Ukraine that is Zelensky’s hometown. High-precision missiles have hit a depot located “within one of the industrial enterprises”, said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
Ukrainian emergency services have confirmed that an industrial plant in Krivoy Rog caught fire after being hit by two Russian missiles and received “significant damage”. Authorities did not say whether it was used as a military depot.
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