Ukraine has launched a counterattack on the city of Sievierodonetsk and has recaptured a fifth of the city it had previously lost to Russian invaders, according to the region’s chief.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk Oblast, told Ukrainian television that Russian forces were losing recent gains in the city, the easternmost power held by Kyiv in the Donbas region, where the fighting.
The governor said Russia had “previously managed to capture most of the city”, but added in a tweet that the army had pushed them back by 20%. “They’re really suffering big losses,” he said.
These claims are difficult to verify in the midst of intense fighting, which had seen Russian invaders concentrate their forces on trying to encircle and capture the city for the past two weeks, advancing at a speed of 500 m to 1 km per day.
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British defense intelligence said on Saturday that Russia had been able to combine “massive airstrikes and artillery fire to carry out its overwhelming firepower” and thus support “its progressive advance”.
But the British said it had come at a cost. The use of “unguided ammunition has led to the widespread destruction of built-up areas in the Donbas.” The film, released by Haidai early on Saturday, showed damaged and burning apartment blocks, while bombings were heard nearby.
Haidai acknowledged that the situation of the Ukrainians in Sievierodonetsk remains difficult, but said that he believes that the defenders could now endure another fifteen days. A Russian victory in that time period “was unrealistic,” he added.
After that, the governor said, he hoped that the newly promised Western Himars rocket launcher systems could tip the scales in favor of Kyiv, allowing Ukraine to direct them at a greater distance than before.
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“But as soon as we have enough long-range Western weapons, we will move their artillery away from our positions. And then, believe me, the Russian infantry will only be executed,” the governor added.
Foreign fighters from countries such as Australia, Georgia, France and Brazil were also being deployed by Ukraine to Sievierodonetsk, according to a video report released Friday. He presents an interview with a masked soldier who speaks clearly with an Australian accent, saying he had “stepped up” to join the fight.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Friday that Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had told him that Russia would now “speed up” the invasion. New tactics have been identified that “will significantly increase the effectiveness of offensive maneuvers,” Kadyrov added.
But in an overnight assessment, the Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank that closely followed the conflict, said it was skeptical about the claims made. Accelerating the pace of progress, the institute said it believed that “it is unlikely that Russian forces will be able to do so.”
In the Odessa region of southern Ukraine on Saturday morning, a missile struck an agricultural storage unit and injured two people, the regional administration spokesman told Telegram.
Ukraine said it had also shot down four other cruise missiles launched from a submarine in the Black Sea, while the Russian defense ministry said its forces shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane near Odessa.
Two people were killed and at least two were injured in a Russian civilian infrastructure bombing in the northeastern region of Kharkiv on Friday, Ukraine’s Interfax reported, citing emergency services.
Russian authorities began issuing passports in Kherson and Melitopol on Friday, according to the Institute for the Study of War, while the Ukrainian army said the occupiers were facing growing resistance in the southern region. , which had forced Moscow to reinforce its troops there.