POKROVSK, Ukraine –
Russian and Ukrainian troops clashed on Sunday in a hand-to-hand battle in an eastern Ukrainian city as Moscow troops, backed by heavy bombardment, tried to gain strategic points to conquer the region in the face of strong Ukrainian resistance.
Ukrainian regional officials reported that Russian forces “assaulted” Sievierodonetsk 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.
Sievierodonetsk, located about 143 kilometers (89 miles) south of the Russian border, has emerged in recent days as the epicenter of Moscow’s search to capture the entire industrial region of Ukraine’s Donbass. Russia also stepped up its efforts to capture nearby Lysychansk, where civilians rushed to escape persistent bombing.
The two eastern cities include the strategically important Siverskiy Donetsk River. They are the last large areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk Oblast, which forms the Donbas along with neighboring Donetsk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid a rare front-line visit to the city of Kharkiv while trying to assert the strength of Ukraine’s position there. Ukrainian fighters pushed back Russian forces from positions close to the city, Ukraine’s second-largest, a few weeks ago.
“I feel unlimited pride in our defenders. Every day, risking their lives, they fight for the freedom of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging application after visiting soldiers stationed in Kharkiv.
Russia has maintained its bombing of the northeastern city from afar, and explosions could be heard in the area shortly after Zelenskyy’s visit. Bombings and airstrikes have destroyed more than 2,000 apartment buildings since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
In the wider Kharkiv region, Russian troops still held about 30 percent of the territory, while Kyiv troops had recovered another five percent, the governor said.
However, Zelenskyy acknowledged that the battle for the east is “indescribably difficult.” “The Russian army is trying to get at least some results” by concentrating its attacks there, he said in a video address Saturday night.
Russia is focused, after failing to seize the Ukrainian capital, on occupying parts of the Donbas 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.
Civilians arriving in the eastern city of Pokrovsk, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Lysychansk, said they held out as long as they could before fleeing the Russian advance.
Yana Skakova stifled tears when she described leaving with her 18-month-old and four-year-old children while her husband stayed to look after her home and pets. The family was among the 18 people who lived in a basement for the past 2.5 months until police told them Friday it was time to evacuate.
“None of us wanted to leave our hometown,” he said. “But for the sake of these little kids, we decided to leave.”
Serhiy Haidai, Luhansk provincial governor, said the constant bombing created a “grave” situation in Lysychansk. “There are fatalities and injuries,” he wrote in the Telegram, without going into detail.
On Saturday, he said, one civilian was killed and four were injured after a Russian shell hit an apartment building.
But some Luhansk supply and evacuation routes were still operating on Sunday, he said. He claimed that the Russians had retreated “at a loss” around a village near Sievierodonetsk, but carried out airstrikes on another nearby village on the strategic Siverskiy Donetsk River.
Sievierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said there were fights at the city’s bus station on Saturday. Residents living in the city, which had a pre-war population of about 100,000, risked exposure to bombing to get water from half a dozen wells, and there was no electricity or cell phone service, Striuk said.
Striuk has estimated that 1,500 civilians have died in Russian attacks since the start of the war, as well as a lack of medicines and diseases that could not be treated.
The Institute for War Study, a Washington-based think tank, questioned the Kremlin’s strategy of putting together a major military effort to take Sieverodonetsk, saying it was costly for Russia and would bring few benefits. .
“When the battle of Sieverodonetsk is over, no matter which side the city is on, the Russian offensive at the operational and strategic level is likely to be over, giving Ukraine a chance to restart its counter-offensive at the operational level to push back Russian forces.” , said the institute. he said in an assessment posted Saturday afternoon.
Deteriorating conditions led to fears that Sieverodonetsk could become the nearby Mariupol, a port city 281 kilometers (175 miles) south that spent nearly three months besieged before the last Ukrainian fighters surrendered.
An aide to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol alleged on Sunday that after Russian forces gained full control of Mariupol, bodies of dead people were piled up inside a supermarket.
Assistant Petro Andryushchenko posted a photo on the Telegram messaging app of what he described as a “corpse dump” in the busy city. It showed bodies stacked next to closed supermarket counters.
It was not possible to immediately verify his claim or the authenticity of the photo, which Andryushchenko described as recent.
“Here, the Russians carry the bodies of the dead, which were washed from their graves during attempts to restore the water supply and partially exhumed. They were simply thrown away as rubbish,” he wrote.
Regions of Ukraine were hit overnight by new Russian airstrikes. In the eastern Donetsk region, fighters fought back and forth for control of towns and cities.
The Ukrainian army reported heavy fighting around Donetsk, the provincial capital, as well as Lyman in the north. The small town serves as a key railway hub in the Donetsk region. Moscow on Saturday claimed to have taken Lyman, but Ukrainian authorities said its fighters continued to fight in parts of the city.
“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.”
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Mazalan reported from Kyiv. Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and PA journalists from around the world contributed.