The most difficult situation in Severodonetsk is at the Azot chemical plant, inside which some 400 soldiers and 500 civilians are sheltering.
It has been 109 days since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, and the fierce fighting continues. Especially in Donbas, where the Kremlin Army is trying to dump the remains in Severodonetsk, the last bastion that kyiv controls in the region, to achieve its main objective: to establish a land connection from the east of the invaded country to the Crimean peninsula ( annexed in 2014), passing through areas such as Jersón and Mariúpol –controlled by Moscow–.
The long conflict takes its toll on the increasingly weakened Ukrainian defenses – the government confirmed the loss of 10,000 of its own soldiers and 32,000 Russian casualties – whose troops are running out of ammunition. This was reported on Friday by the number two of the kyiv military intelligence, Vadim Skibitski, after pointing out that his Army will depend exclusively on international military aid. “This has turned into an artillery war and we are losing,” he admitted. A statement that provides a dose of reality and that lowers the spirits of the soldiers who fight on the front lines. Even so, the defenses resist the Russian attacks.
In Severodonetsk, the epicenter of the Donbas confrontation, “strong street battles” took place this Saturday, stressed the city’s mayor, Alexander Striuk, who explained that the Ukrainian Armed Forces still control a third of the city. “A line of defense has been built and military operations continue to push back the Russian Army,” explained the alderman. Among the hardest hit areas is the Azot chemical plant, whose surroundings “was bombed both from the air and with heavy artillery. Yesterday an ammonia processing workshop and a warehouse with chemicals exploded, it has been burning for a day,” Striuk explained.
For the second time since the beginning of the war, a large industrial complex has become one of the last defensive bastions of the Ukrainian forces. As was the case previously with the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol, now history is repeating itself with Azot in Severodonetsk. In this case, around 400 combatants and 500 civilians are sheltered in the facilities, according to estimates by the Russian ambassador of the self-proclaimed republic of Lugansk, Rodion Miroshnik, who stated that “contact has been established with the combatants and negotiations have begun for the safe exit of civilians” from the plant.
german defense systems
What about the rest of the town? The humanitarian situation is “almost critical,” warned the mayor. The bombings have destroyed the buildings of a third of the neighborhoods and there are about 10,000 citizens. “Evacuation is impossible” due to continuous Russian attacks, especially from the air. Striuk stated that the Army’s main problem in the city is the lack of air defense and artillery. For this reason, Germany has taken another step in its support for the Government of Volodímir Zelenski.
The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andrii Melnik, announced this Saturday that the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has promised him IRIS-T missile systems, capable of protecting an area the size of kyiv. One billion euros will be allocated to this type of defense, provided for in the budget of the German Defense Ministry. “We worked on it from the first days of the war. It is the best system in the world, it can be compared to the American Patriot – range of 100 kilometers –”, Melnik stressed. It is now in the production phase – it is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. “Then the training and delivery will be in October.”
An investment that will help the Ukrainian troops to defend themselves against the Russian offensive. This Saturday Moscow attacked several Lugansk settlements with flamethrowers. Five Lisichansk residents were injured and taken to hospital, according to the region’s governor, Sergei Gaidai.
#kyiv #barely #resists #Russian #offensive #Donbas #weapons