A fiercely disputed mass evacuation of civilians from the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk is now “simply not possible” due to bombings and relentless fighting, says a regional official.
Key points:
- More than 500 civilians are taking refuge in the Sievierodonetsk Nitrogen Chemical Plant
- A Russian general says a humanitarian corridor will be opened to evacuate them to Russian-controlled territory
- Kremlin says Russia would be willing to consider a UK appeal after two Britons were sentenced to death for fighting for Ukraine.
Russian troops control about 80 percent of Sievierodonetsk and have destroyed the three bridges that come out of it, said Serhiy Haidai, governor of the eastern Luhansk region.
Ukrainian forces have been pushed into the city’s industrial outskirts because of the “scorched earth method and heavy artillery used by the Russians,” he said.
Ukrainian authorities are still trying to evacuate the wounded.
“There is still an opportunity for the evacuation of the wounded, communication with the Ukrainian army and local residents,” he said, adding that Russian forces had not yet completely blocked the strategic city.
About 12,000 people remain in Sievierodonetsk, a pre-war population of 100,000.
According to Haidai, more than 500 civilians are taking refuge in the city’s Azot chemical plant, which is being beaten relentlessly by the Russians.
A total of 70 civilians were evacuated from the Luhansk region on the last day, the governor said.
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the aid organizations providing food to civilians in the Donbas region, said the fighting in recent weeks had made regular distribution of food impossible.
The remaining civilians in Sievierodonetsk were “almost completely cut off from aid supplies after the destruction of the last bridge,” he said.
Trapped civilians can be sent to Russian territory
Civilians take refuge in the Sievierodonetsk Nitrogen Chemical Plant. (Reuters: Oleksandr Ratushniak)
A Russian general has said a humanitarian corridor will be opened on Wednesday, local time, to evacuate civilians from the Azot plant.
Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev said the evacuees would be taken to the town of Svatove, 60 kilometers north, in territory under the control of Russian and separatist forces.
He said the plan was made after Ukraine asked for an evacuation corridor leading to the territory it controlled.
Ukraine has accused Colonel General Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Management Center, of human rights violations while commanding troops during the long siege of Mariupol, Ukraine’s key port on the Azov Sea. charge.
Russian forces have been pushing hard in recent weeks to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbass industrial zone, which borders Russia and is made up of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
“The situation is difficult,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Our job is to fight.”
With the conflict in its fourth month, the Battle of Donbas could dictate the course of the war.
If Russia prevails, Ukraine will lose not only land, but perhaps most of its most capable military forces, paving the way for Moscow to take more territory and dictate its terms to Kyiv.
A Russian failure, however, could lay the groundwork for a Ukrainian counteroffensive and possible political upheaval for the Kremlin.
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Ukraine shot down two cruise missiles
Beyond Donbas, Ukrainian officials hope that Russia’s focus on capturing the east will drain its forces from other areas and pave the way for counterattacks to reclaim other territories.
Ukraine recaptured the area around its second largest city, Kharkiv, in May and has seen small but steady gains in recent days in the south, with Russia retaining the largest part of the territory it occupied after its invasion in February.
Serhiy Khlan, an adviser to the head of the Russian-occupied southern Kherson province, said Ukraine was having tactical success reclaiming territory for the second week in a row.
The soldiers had already advanced 5 kilometers from Tavriisk, a town on the south bank of the Dnieper River east of the city of Kherson, and were gradually advancing, he said.
Reuters was unable to verify any reports in the area.
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There were also reports of shelling during the night in other parts of Ukraine, with five people injured in the Kharkiv region.
A Ukrainian regional military official said the country’s air defense shot down two Russian cruise missiles aimed at the southern Odessa region, a key western port on the Black Sea.
Kyiv has said that between 100 and 200 of its soldiers die every day, with hundreds more wounded.
Russia does not provide regular updates on its losses, but Western countries have said they have been massive, as Moscow has pledged most of its firepower.
The Kremlin would consider appealing the death sentences
The men fought alongside Ukrainian troops and surrendered to Russian forces weeks ago. (AP)
Meanwhile, the Kremlin says Russia would be willing to consider an appeal by the United Kingdom over the fate of two British men sentenced to death for fighting for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said neither Moscow nor the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine who handed down the sentence had heard in London on the issue.
“We have to ask … the authorities of the country whose court handed down the verdict, and this is not the Russian Federation,” Peskov said.
“But, of course, it will all depend on the calls from London. And I’m sure the Russian side will be willing to listen.”
Britain’s Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan national Brahim Saadoun, were sentenced to death last week for allegedly fighting as mercenaries for Ukraine in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
The United Kingdom described the procedure as a “sham” and said it would do whatever was necessary to secure the release of the two British prisoners.
Separatist authorities said all three had one month to appeal their sentence.
Kyiv has pledged to try to secure his release by exchanging prisoners with Russia.
The US plans to remove grain from Ukraine
Ukraine’s grain exports have been disrupted, which could worsen global food shortages. (Reuters: Serhii Nuzhnenko)
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was working closely with European partners to get 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain, currently blocked from leaving Black Sea ports, to international markets.
He said the plan would involve the construction of temporary storage silos on the Ukrainian borders to address the problem of the different railway gauges used by the railway systems of Ukraine and Europe.
“We are going to build silos, temporary silos, on the borders of Ukraine, including Poland,” Biden said.
“So we can move it from those cars to those silos to cars in Europe and take it to the ocean and take it all over the world. But it’s taking time.”
Ukraine is a global bread basket nation, whose exports to world markets have been severely disrupted by the war.
Ukraine’s lack of grain in world markets threatens to exacerbate food shortages and inflation worldwide.
Many African and Middle Eastern countries depend heavily on Ukrainian grain and could have trouble feeding their people without it.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Russia’s envoy to the UN leaves the Security Council meeting.
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