In recent days, clashes have intensified in Severodonetsk. It is in this city in the Luhansk region, in eastern Ukraine, that Russia is currently concentrating its military efforts, with a view to conquering this and other towns. This Saturday, the British Ministry of Defense reported that the Russian army is attacking the city “intensely” using artillery and aerial means to try to “crush the Ukrainian defenses”.. The conflict in the region will be causing heavy casualties on both sides.
Regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai predicts that the Russians will use all their military might to try to capture the city between Sunday and Monday, adding: second The Kyiv Independent newspaper reported that Russian troops destroyed three bridges in Severodonetsk on Sunday in an attempt to block access to the city.
Gaidai’s statements echo the Update this Sunday from British intelligence: “Russia is using its superior force and artillery to gradually take control of Severodonetsk and its surroundings,” the UK Ministry of Defense said. A US Defense Department source told The Washington Post that Russia is likely to conquer the entire Luhansk region within a few weeks. The Ukrainian army has suffered heavy losses and has been short of material, justified the same source.
One of Moscow’s goals is to conquer Lugansk and Donetsk, which make up the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, partly dominated by Russian separatist groups. Referring to the situation in that part of the territory, Volodymyr Zelensky guaranteed in the message released this Saturday that “Donbass is resisting”, noting that Russia hoped to control the region “by early May.” “This is already the 108th day of the war. The losses suffered by the invaders, especially in that direction, are very important”, he defended.
On Saturday, Mayor Alexander Stryuk told the BBC that Russian forces controlled a third of Severodonetsk, although according to the Kingdom’s Defense Ministry, they were still unable to advance into the southern part of the city. This Sunday morning, the governor of Lugansk assured that the invaders had not yet succeeded in blocking the Azot chemical factory, a center of resistance in the city, where several hundred civilians take refuge in bomb shelters. “Azot is not blocked. The fight continues in the streets near the factory,” Gaidai said on national television.
This Saturday, the clashes caused a fire in the factory. According to Serhiy Gaidai, the fire started after tons of gasoline leaked from the damaged radiators. The governor did not say if the fire was controlled and if it caused injuries or deaths. According to accounts by Ukrainian officials, there are about 800 civilians in the factory.
The governor also said on Sunday that the situation remained difficult in Toshkivka, on the outskirts of Severodonetsk, but that Ukrainian forces had succeeded in blocking the Russian army’s advance on Popasna. Lysychansk, in the same region, has also come under heavy attack from the invading forces.
Source: Observadora
