Fierce street fighting in Ukraine’s Sievierodonetsk a pivotal battle for Donbas

Kyiv, June 7 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian troops were locked in fierce street fighting with Russian soldiers in the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk, a pivotal battle in the Kremlin’s bid to control the eastern Donbas region.

“Our heroes do not give up their positions in Sievierodonetsk. In the city, fierce street fighting continues,” Zelenskiy said in his late-night video address on Monday.

“And the Ukrainian Donbas is standing firm,” he added, referring to the region where Sievierodonetsk is located.

It was unclear which side had the upper hand, with “the situation changing from hour to hour,” Oleksandr Stryuk, head of administration in Sievierodonetsk, said on television.

The city has become the main target of Russia’s offensive in Donbas, which encompasses Lugansk and Donetsk provinces, as the Kremlin invasion continues in a war of attrition that has seen cities flattened by artillery shelling.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russia is also dropping troops and equipment in its campaign to capture Ukraine’s largest remaining city of Luhansk.

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Monday the situation had worsened after Ukrainian defenders pushed the Russians back over the weekend when they appeared close to victory.

In its overnight update, the Ukrainian military said two civilians were killed in Russian shelling in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Monday and that Russian forces had fired on more than 20 communities.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield reports. Russia denies targeting civilians in the conflict.

Russia says it is on a mission to “liberate” Donbas, partly controlled by separatist Moscow proxies since 2014, after Ukrainian forces expelled its troops from the capital Kyiv and Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv. in the early stages of the war.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, but calls its action a “special military operation” to crack down on what it sees as threats to its security. Ukraine and its Western allies call this an unfounded pretext for a war to seize territory that risks escalating into a wider European conflict.

CONSTANT DISCHARGE

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that Russian forces were also advancing towards Sloviansk, which is about 85 km (53 miles) west of Sievierodonetsk.

“The front line is under constant shelling,” Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian television.

“The enemy is also shelling near Lyman with the aim of destroying our defensive positions and advancing on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. They are also shelling Svyatohirsk with the same objective.”

Kyrylenko said efforts were underway to evacuate people from several cities, some under attack day and night, including Sloviansk, which still has some 24,000 residents there.

“People are now understanding, even though it’s late, that it’s time to go,” he said.

In a coordinated move with the United States, Britain said it would supply Ukraine with multiple launch rocket systems that can hit targets up to 80 km (50 miles) away, providing the more precise long-range firepower needed to hit Russian artillery batteries. , a key component of Moscow’s battle plans.

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Zelenskiy said that Kyiv was gradually receiving “specific anti-ship systems”, and that this would be the best way to end the Russian blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports that prevent grain exports.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would respond to Western deliveries of long-range weapons by pushing Ukrainian forces further from the Russian border.

On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia would attack new targets if the West supplied longer-range missiles. On the same day, Russian missiles hit Kyiv for the first time in more than a month.

The United States, which reopened its embassy in Kyiv in May after a nearly three-month closure, said the stance of its embassy in the Ukrainian capital remains unchanged.

Western countries have imposed sanctions of unprecedented scope and severity on Russia for its invasion.

On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it had imposed personal sanctions on 61 US officials, including the Treasury and Energy secretaries and top defense and media executives. The move, he said, was in retaliation for the “steady expansion of US sanctions.” read more

Information from Reuters; Written by Michael Perry; Edited by Himani Sarkar

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