The besieged Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk appears to be almost completely surrounded by attacking Russian forces, as the Kremlin continued to gradually gain ground in its offensive in the Donbas region, backed by lightning shelling.
“Russians are hitting residential neighborhoods relentlessly,” regional governor Serhiy Haidai wrote in a Telegram post on Friday. “The people of Sievierodonetsk have forgotten when it was the last time the city was silent for at least half an hour.”
As the cities of Kharkiv and Dnipro were also attacked, analysts said the main Russian effort still seemed to be focused on the east, while Russian attacks elsewhere appeared to be aimed at consolidating their positions and tying up the forces. Ukrainian defenders who might otherwise be redistributed.
Map of Ukraine
Underlining the state of the fighting in the Donbass, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has presented himself as one of Ukraine’s most vocal animators, said Russia was making slow but “palpable” progress, as he accused. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Kremlin to carry out a “genocide” in the east of the country.
The Foreign Minister of Ukraine also offered a bleak assessment. “The military situation in eastern Ukraine is even worse than people say it is and the country now needs heavy weapons to fight Russia effectively,” said Dmytro Kuleba.
His comments came when the United States and its allies indicated that they would provide Ukraine with increasingly sophisticated weapons, including the multi-launch rocket systems for which Kyiv has been attractive.
On Friday, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in Prague that it was appropriate to support Ukraine with tanks and planes if necessary.
Amid growing news of the campaign in the east, where Ukrainian defenders have been forced to step down, Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukraine did not want to talk to the Russian president. Vladimir Putin, but he had to face the reality that this would probably be necessary to end the war.
“It simply came to our notice then. I’m not telling you that our people want to talk to him, but we have to face the realities of what we are going through, “Zelenskiy said in an address to an Indonesian think tank.
“What do we want from this meeting? … We want our lives back … We want to restore the life of a sovereign country within its own territory, “he said, adding that Russia did not seem ready for serious peace talks.
In response, the Kremlin said on Friday that it blamed Ukraine for freezing peace talks between the two countries, and said it was unclear what Kyiv wanted.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a call to reporters: “The Ukrainian leadership is constantly making contradictory statements. This does not allow us to fully understand what the Ukrainian side wants.”
A resident of Bakhmut, a city in southwestern Sievierodonetsk, passes an industrial building damaged by a Russian strike. Photo: Serhii Nuzhnenko / Reuters
The situation in Sievierodonetsk seemed especially desperate, with Russian troops reported in some parts of the city.
Its mayor said Russian forces were at the Myr Hotel on the outskirts of the city on Thursday and that 1,500 people had been killed in the fighting, while between 12,000 and 13,000 were trapped.
Russia appeared to have gained full control of the strategic city of Lyman, with Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko saying there was heavy fighting in the city after Ukrainian troops withdrew to a new line of defense.
Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region said they had “liberated and taken total control of 220 settlements, including Krasny Liman,” using an old name for Lyman.
According to some reports, Ukraine has been increasingly forced to close the gaps between its supporters in the Donbas with volunteers, highlighting the growing stress on its forces in the region.
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter, every weekday morning at 7:00 BST
Oleh Synehubov, the regional governor of Kharkiv, north of Donbas, said nine civilians had been killed Thursday in Russian bombings.
A five-month-old boy and his father were among the dead, while his mother was seriously injured, he said on social media.
A journalist from Agence France-Presse in the city said the residential area north of Pavlove Pole was affected and columns of smoke were rising from the area.
The journalist saw several people injured near a closed mall, while an elderly man with injuries to his arm and leg was taken by doctors.
Commentators believe that Russia’s gains in the three months of war have been far more insignificant than Putin initially expected, although Moscow has gained control of a handful of cities in southern Ukraine, such as Kherson and Mariupol. .
This has been cited as an explanation for the intensity of Russia’s efforts to occupy the entire Donbass, in what could be described as a major victory for Putin.
The Kremlin is trying to tighten control of parts of Ukraine that it occupies, including quick citizenship for residents of Russian-controlled areas.
According to Kyiv, the occupation authorities in Mariupol, which were captured by the invading forces this month after a devastating siege that left thousands dead and reduced the city to rubble, have canceled school holidays to prepare students to move to a Russian curriculum.
It is more questionable whether Russian forces can advance beyond the Donbas and the southern areas they control.