The Ukrainian president emphasized his request to Western countries to send more weapons and help contain the “terrifying” human cost of Russian advances in the eastern city of Severodonetsk, inaccessible this Tuesday from the rest of the areas controlled by kyiv.
(Also read: Russia bombs western Ukraine and fights heavy in the east)
This industrial city and its neighbor Lysychansk, separated by the Donets River, have been under fire for weeks from Russian troops, who want to seize the last redoubt of kyiv in Lugansk, one of the two regions along with Donetsk that make up the Donbas mining area.
President Volodimir Zelenski assured that the human cost of this battle “is very high, it is simply terrifying”, but he was confident that he could turn the situation around if they receive more Western weapons.
“We just need more weapons to secure all of this. Our allies have themZelensky said.
The United States has already begun delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will chair a Ukraine Contact Group meeting in Brussels on Wednesday where a possible acceleration of deliveries will be discussed.
(Also: Ukraine: Russian troops control more than 70% of the city of Severodonetsk)
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak on Monday listed the needs of his troops, including howitzer howitzers, tanks and armored vehicles.
“Being direct: to end the war we need heavy weapons,” he said on Twitter.
Critical situation
On the ground, Lugansk regional governor Sergei Gaidai admitted on Monday that Ukrainian troops had been expelled from the center of Severodonetsk after weeks of resistance.
“They have destroyed all the bridges, so access to the city is no longer possible. Evacuation is also not possible,” he told Free Europe radio.
Oleksandr Striouk, head of the Severodonetsk administration, reported the destruction of a third bridge linking the city with Lysychansk in “massive shelling”, but assured that they were not “isolated”.
(You can read: Putin makes his bodyguards store his excrement while he travels)
They have destroyed all the bridges, so access to the city is no longer possible. Evacuation is also not possible
“There are communication channels, although they are complicated,” he said. “Russian troops are not giving up their attempts to take the city, but the (Ukrainian) military is resisting,” he added.
Gaidai further noted that Russian troops controlled 70-80% of the city, but asserted that she had not been captured or surrounded. With the Russian siege tightening on Lugansk, the Ukrainian troops in the area have only two options “surrender or die”, said the spokesman for the pro-Russian separatists Eduard Basurin.
For Russia, taking control of Severodonetsk would pave the way to take over another big Donbas city, Kramatorsk, an important step in conquering the entire region that had already been partly in the hands of Moscow-backed rebels since 2014.
Neighboring Lysychansk is not spared from hostilities. The damage is extensive in this city, which has no water, electricity or telephone coverage.
(Keep reading: Ukraine wages war of attrition after running out of Soviet weapons)
Gaidai also claimed that the Russians are “trying to surround” the Ukrainians in Severodonetsk, in neighboring Lysychansk, and in the nearby towns of Pryvillya and Borivske.
According to him, the Russians were reinforced by “two groups of tactical battalions”. “The situation is extremely serious,” he added.
In addition to Donbas, fighting is taking place in southern Ukraine. The southern command of the Ukrainian troops reported air battles and Russian helicopter attacks on Ukrainian positions in Mikolaiv and Kherson.
At Mikolaiv, an important port on the Dnieper estuary, the Russian advance was stopped on the outskirts of the city and the Ukrainian army dug trenches there.
Ukrainians fear that the Russians will soon hold a referendum in the Kherson region, near the Crimean peninsula, and other areas held by Russian forces, with a view to annexation to Russia.
*With information from AFP
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