Russian and Ukrainian troops took part in a hand-to-hand battle on Sunday in a city in eastern Ukraine as Moscow bombers, backed by heavy bombardment, tried to seize strategic points in the region as they faced heavy resistance. Ukrainian.
Ukrainian regional officials reported that Russian forces were “assaulting” Severodonetsk after unsuccessfully trying to encircle the city. The clashes left power and mobile phone service, and a humanitarian aid center was unable to operate due to the danger, the mayor said.
Severodonetsk, a manufacturing hub, has become the epicenter of Russia’s quest to conquer Ukraine’s Donbass industrial region. Russia also stepped up its efforts to capture nearby Lysychansk, where Ukrainian officials reported constant bombing.
The two cities, with a combined pre-war population of about 200,000, are the last large Ukrainian-controlled areas in Luhansk province, which forms the Donbas along with neighboring Donetsk. Russia is focused on capturing parts of both that are not yet controlled by pro-Moscow separatists.
Russian forces have made small strides in recent days as bombings chewed up Ukrainian positions and kept civilians trapped in basements or desperately trying to get out safely. Attacks to destroy military targets across the country also claimed casualties in civilian areas.
Situation in the east “indescribably difficult”: Zelensky
In his video speech Saturday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation in the east as “very complicated” and “indescribably difficult.” “The Russian army is trying to get at least some results” by concentrating its attacks there, he said.
Sievierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said there were fights at the city’s bus station on Saturday. A humanitarian center was unable to operate due to the danger, Striuk said, and mobile phone service and electricity were cut off. Residents were at risk of being exposed to bombing to get water from half a dozen wells, he said.
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Some supply routes were in operation and evacuations of the wounded were still possible, Striuk said. An estimated 1,500 civilians in the city, which had a pre-war population of about 100,000, have died as a result of the fighting, as well as a lack of medicines and diseases that could not be treated.
Serhiy Haidai, the regional governor, claimed that the Russians had retreated “with losses” around the village of Bobrove, about 20 kilometers southeast of Sievierodonetsk, but were carrying out airstrikes in a village near the strategic river Siverskiy Donetsk.
“The situation in Lysychansk is serious due to the constant bombing by the occupiers, there are fatalities and injuries,” he wrote in Telegram, without giving further details. On Saturday, he said, one civilian was killed and four were injured after a Russian howitzer struck a high-rise apartment building. It also damaged a local movie theater and 22 other residential buildings, he said.
The Ukrainian military said on 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 strengthening its units,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in an operational update. “He’s trying to get his foot in the door.”
Moscow on Saturday claimed to have taken Lyman, but there was no recognition by Kyiv authorities.
The Ukrainian army said there was intense fighting around Donetsk, the provincial capital.
Zelensky visits troops in Kharkiv
More broadly, Russia launched new airstrikes overnight in the northern Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv and Sumy, and in central Ukraine, Ukrainian state agencies said.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Sunday that Russian bombing caused fires around Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city. Russia has maintained its bombing of Kharkiv, located in northeastern Ukraine, after Ukrainian fighters withdrew their forces from positions near the city several weeks ago.
Zelensky visited Kharkiv on Sunday. Regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov told the president that Russian troops were still in possession of 30 percent of the Kharkiv region, while troops in Kyiv had recovered another five percent.
Zelensky also met with Ukrainian soldiers stationed in Kharkiv.
“I feel unlimited pride for our defenders. Every day, risking their lives, they fight for the freedom of Ukraine,” he wrote in a Telegram publication.
The remains hang from a heavily damaged residential building in a Russian bombing in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, on Saturday. (Francisco Seco / The Associated Press)
The Ukrainian Border Guard Service said that the border areas in the Sumy region, east of Kharkiv, were hit by six unguided missiles. The agency did not mention any reports of casualties.
Russia claims that its forces destroyed a large Ukrainian ammunition depot in Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine that is Zelensky’s hometown. High-precision missiles hit a tank located “inside one of the industrial companies,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
Ukrainian emergency services confirmed that an industrial plant in Kryvyi Rih caught fire following the attack of two Russian rockets and suffered “significant damage”. Officials did not say whether it was used as a military depot.