Russian forces are involved in scorched earth tactics in their offensive in eastern Ukraine, hitting civilian areas with missiles and reducing villages, towns and cities to rubble, said the governors of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.
Indiscriminate bombing by Russian forces over the past 24 hours has killed at least eight civilians and injured 25 more, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.
Most of the civilian casualties occurred in Donetsk province, where Russia has intensified its offensive in recent days, the Ukrainian presidential office said.
Listing the number of civilians killed, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko promised in a Telegram publication that “all crimes will be punished.”
Kyrylenko had urged the remaining more than 350,000 residents of the province to flee on Tuesday afternoon, saying the evacuation of Donetsk was necessary to save lives and to allow the Ukrainian army to occupy a better defense against the Russian advance.
Donetsk is part of the Donbas, a mostly Russian-speaking industrial area where Ukraine’s most experienced soldiers are concentrated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that his forces had completed the capture of the other province in the Donbas region, Luhansk, after Ukrainian troops withdrew from the last city under his country’s control.
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai on Wednesday denied that the Russians had completely captured the province, the last city of which, Lysychansk, fell to Moscow forces on Sunday. Strong fighting continues in the villages around Lysychansk, he said.
“The Russians have paid a high price, but the Luhansk region is not fully captured by the Russian army,” Haidai said.
“Some settlements have already been invaded by each side several times,” he said.
The governor accused Russian forces of scorched earth tactics: “Burn and destroy everything in their path.”
As many as 15,000 residents remain in Lysychansk and about 8,000 in the nearby city of Severodonetsk, which Russian and separatist fighters captured last month, Haidai said.
“No safe areas”
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its regular update on social media on Wednesday afternoon that Ukrainian troops had repulsed enemy units advancing on Sloviansk in Donetsk, which is considered a key target for Moscow. .
Donetsk separatist authorities also said four civilians were killed and 14 others were injured in Ukrainian bombings over the past 24 hours. The news said the bombing hit an ammunition depot on Tuesday, causing massive explosions.
North of Donetsk, Russian forces also struck Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, with overnight missile attacks, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synyehubov told Telegram. Three districts of the city were attacked. According to the governor, one person died and three, including a small child, were injured.
In the south of the country, the port of Mykolaiv was also being heavily bombed, Oleksandr Senkevych, its mayor, said in a briefing.
“There are no safe areas in Mykolaiv,” he said. “I’m telling people … they have to leave.”
The city has already lost about half of its pre-war population of half a million.
‘The wrath of God’
In a signal that Moscow is not preparing to end its military offensive against Ukraine soon, Russia’s parliament rushed on Wednesday to pass laws requiring companies to supply goods to the armed forces and forcing employees of companies that they support the war effort to work overtime.
According to the draft laws, companies will be required by law to provide goods and services necessary to carry out the “special military operation” in Ukraine to the armed forces, and employees of certain companies that produce goods and services necessary for the Russian army will be forced to work overtime at night, weekends or holidays.
“In the context of operations carried out by the armed forces of the Russian Federation outside Russia, including in the territory of Ukraine, it is necessary to repair weapons, military equipment and provide the armed forces with material and technical means.” explanatory note of one of the indicated bills.
A senior Russian official also warned Wednesday that the United States and Western allies could face “God’s wrath” if they tried to punish a nuclear power like Russia for crimes committed in its war in Ukraine.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, denounced the United States for what he described as his efforts to establish an international tribunal and to “spread chaos and destruction around the world for the sake of ‘true democracy. ‘”.