Updates from day 104 of the invasion
- Russia says it controls almost all of Luhansk, one of the two main regions of the Donbas.
- Ukraine’s presidential adviser is trying to boost morale in the face of Russian advances.
- The removal of bodies from the Mariupol steel mill continues.
- The Ukrainian official says grain exports would be two-thirds lower if Russia’s blockade continues.
Russia is deploying reinforcements to troops in eastern Ukraine to help capture a key city, a Ukrainian official said Tuesday, while Moscow artillery maintained a bombardment aimed at destroying Ukrainian defenses.
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai told The Associated Press that Russian forces control the industrial outskirts of Severodonetsk, one of two cities in the Luhansk region that are still in Ukrainian hands.
“The toughest street fights continue, with varying degrees of success,” Haidai said. “The situation is constantly changing, but the Ukrainians are repelling the attacks.”
Russia seems determined to capture the entire eastern part of Ukraine’s Donbass, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. While the Kremlin’s forces have superior firepower, Ukrainian soldiers, including the country’s best-trained forces, are entrenched and have the ability to counterattack.
“Our heroes do not give up their positions in Severodonetsk,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address overnight.
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Russia said on Tuesday that its forces were in control of almost the entire Lugansk region.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow forces have seized residential areas in Severodonetsk and are fighting to take control of an industrial area on its outskirts and nearby cities.
Shoigu added that Russian troops were pushing their offensive towards the city of Popasna and noted that they had taken control of Lyman and Sviatohirsk and 15 other cities in the region. Popasna is a pre-war town of 20,000 inhabitants located about 30 km south of Severodonetsk.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak urged his people not to be discouraged by the setbacks on the battlefield.
“Don’t let the news that we’ve given you something scare you,” he said in a video address. “Clearly, tactical maneuvers are underway. We’re giving in to something, we’re recovering something.”
Ukraine hopes to evacuate citizens of Donetsk cities
Moscow forces also maintained an artillery bombardment of Lysychansk, a city near Severodonetsk almost entirely controlled by Russian troops.
Haidai said Russian troops bombed a local market, a school and a university building, destroying the latter. Three injured were sent to hospitals in other parts of Ukraine, he said.
“The total destruction of the city is underway, the Russian bombing has intensified significantly over the last 24 hours. The Russians are using scorched earth tactics,” Haidai said.
In all, Ukrainian forces had repelled 10 Russian attacks in the previous 24 hours, according to Haidai. Your report could not be independently verified.
Donetsk Regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian television that there were constant bombardments at the front, with Russia trying to advance on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Ukraine’s two largest Donetsk-held cities.
A girl is carrying a dog on Monday as she passes a house damaged by bombings in the Leninsky district of Donetsk, in the territory under the control of the Donetsk People’s Republic. (Alexei Alexandrov / The Associated Press)
Kyrylenko said efforts are being made to evacuate people from several cities, some under attack day and night, including Sloviansk, where there are still about 24,000 residents, about a quarter of the population.
“People now understand, even though it’s late, that it’s time to leave,” he said.
In its nightly update, the Ukrainian army said two civilians were killed in Russian bombings in the Donbas and that Russian forces had fired on more than 20 communities, using artillery and airstrikes.
Russia claims to have fired artillery
Ukraine is receiving weapons and ammunition from the West to help defend against relentless Russian attacks. This aid has become a target for Russian artillery and warplanes.
Russia said on Tuesday that its forces had fired two artillery systems donated by the United States and a shell supplied by Norway.
Ukrainian military on Monday drove a tank near the front line in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. (Bernat Armangue / The Associated Press)
Major-Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the Russian artillery bombardment destroyed other Ukrainian equipment in the east of the country, while the Russian air force struck troops and concentrations of Ukrainian equipment and artillery positions.
Konashenkov’s claims could not be independently confirmed.
Meanwhile, dozens of Ukrainian fighters killed in Azovstal steel had been scheduled to be autopsied in Kiev.
The bodies were returned to Ukraine by the Russian occupiers of the plant, which looks like a fortress in the destroyed city of Mariupol, where its last position became a symbol of resistance against the invasion of Moscow.
Azov’s regiment was among the Ukrainian units that defended the steel for almost three months before surrendering in May under relentless Russian attacks from land, sea and air.
It was unclear how many bodies could remain on the floor.
Cereal exports would be very limited: Ukraine
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, calling it a “special military operation” to remove what it considers threats to its security. Ukraine and its Western allies call this an unfounded pretext for a war to seize territory.
Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports has hampered grain exports from one of the world’s largest producers.
TARGET | The war in Ukraine stops grain exports:
Exports of grain from Ukraine obstructed by the Russian invasion
More than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain harvested are stranded within the country due to the blockade of Russia on major ports.
Ukraine will only be able to export up to two million tonnes of grain a month if Russia refuses to lift the blockade of Black Sea ports, Taras Vysotskyi, Ukraine’s first deputy minister for agricultural and food policy, said on Tuesday. Vysotskyi made the remarks while speaking via a video link to participants at an International Grains Council (IGC) conference in London.
He said that even if the blockade of the Russian port were lifted, Ukraine would need about six months to clear the waters around the Black Sea ports, which means the world would remain without grain for some time.
Russia destroyed the second largest grain terminal in Ukraine. Millions around the world will face more food insecurity. Russia’s appetite is growing. Now they want to not only eliminate the Ukrainians, but put the world on the brink of starvation. Helping Ukraine will help prevent it.
& mdash; @OlegNikolenko_
Ukraine is currently trying to export its large grain reserves by road, river and rail to help avert a global food crisis, but these routes face severe capacity constraints.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the country was able to export up to six million tons of grain a month.
World wheat prices hit all-time highs in March, and rising food prices have sparked protests in developing countries, as well as contributing to an acceleration in overall inflation rates around the world.
The United Nations is trying to negotiate a deal to get Ukrainian grain shipped from its ports. Russia has said it wants Western sanctions to be lifted as part of the deal, and has also accused Ukraine of exploiting its own waters.
European Council President Charles Michel on Monday accused Russia of using the food supply as “a stealth missile against developing countries” and blamed the Kremlin for the impending global food crisis. Moscow Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia leaves a Security Council meeting.
Shush said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol, captured by Russian forces, had been cleared and were ready to resume shipments of grain.