The governor of the Luhansk region on Monday acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from areas in the city of Sorodontsk.
“The city is witnessing a violent street war with Russian forces,” said Sergei Gaidai. “Ukrainian forces maintain their positions in the city’s industrial zone,” he added.
It came hours after Ukraine announced that its forces had taken control of half of the city of Sorodontsk and warned that Russian forces would bring in new military reinforcements.
And on Sunday, Ukraine confirmed that its forces now control “half” of the eastern city of Sorodontsk, which is witnessing heavy fighting as part of a Russian offensive in the Donbas basin.
“Our armed forces have cleared half of this industrial city of Russian forces,” Gaidai said in an interview posted on social media. “Half of the city is under the control of our forces.”
Severodonetsk is the largest city still in the hands of Ukraine in the Lugansk region in the Donbass Basin.
Russian forces have been gradually advancing into the city in recent weeks after retreating or retreating from other areas, including around Kyiv.
But after being repulsed by the Russian invasion of the city, Ukrainian forces recaptured some areas.
Gaidai confirmed that Russian forces were tasked with taking control of the city on Friday, as well as the vital transport artery that connects the neighboring cities of Lyshansk and Bakhmut.
The governor of Lugansk added: “We expect that in the near future all the reserve forces will be at their disposal. They will be engaged (in battle) to perform these two tasks.”
He continued: “In the next five days, the number of Russian heavy artillery shells will increase significantly.”
Source: Lebanon Debate
