Ukraine said on Saturday that it had repelled the advance of the Russian army in Sievierodonetsk, while Russia focused all its available forces there for its offensive. For its part, Moscow said Ukrainian soldiers were leaving the main city in the Donbass region. This municipality is still plagued by intense fighting between kyiv and Kremlin troops.
The situation throughout the region is extremely difficult. The fighting is currently concentrated in Sievierodonetsk because, from what we understand, the Russian army has thrown away all its weight and its reserves. in this battle, said the governor of the Luhansk region, Sergey Gaidai.
Early information states that they were able to occupy most of the city, but our forces are now pushing them back., he assured. According to Mr. Gaïdaï, the Ukrainian army would have reclaimed almost 20% of the territory lost in Sievierodonetsk.
However, the Russian Defense Ministry announced in a statement that Ukrainian army units, which had suffered critical defeats in the fighting for Sievierodonetsk (up to 90% in some units), retreated to Lysychanska large nearby town located across the Donets River.
On the other hand, this ministry gave no indications about the number of Ukrainian soldiers who would defeat a retreat towards Lyssytchansk. The AFP has not yet verified independent statements of this source.
Ukrainian authorities, understanding that it was impossible to fight further and hold the Sievierodonetsk industrial zone, ordered a mixed tactical group to mine tanks containing nitrate and nitric acid at the Azot plant.said the Russian military.
He also pointed out that this group that remained on the scene was specifically made up of survivors of the 79th Air Assault Brigade, as well as members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense.
According to Moscow, the Ukrainian army wants to detonate tanks of chemicals, which will infect this area and have the effect of to delay the offensive of Russian troops.
The cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lyssychansk are located about 80 kilometers from the Ukrainian regional administrative capital of Kramatorsk. Sievierodonetsk, which had nearly 100,000 inhabitants before the war, was a major aggregation to achieve this.
By taking over this city, Russia will ensure its hold on the Donbass, an important mining basin that has been partially occupied by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
A war of attrition is now taking place in Donbass, says the secretary general ofNATOJens Stoltenberg.
Despite reinforcements deployed by Russia, Mr. Gaïdaï estimated on Friday that he was not realistic to insist that Sievierodonetsk will collapse within the next two weeks.
Russian troops are strengthening
To carry out its offensive in Sievierodonetsk, Russia strengthened its troops and used its artillery to conduct offensives in the city, according to the Ukrainian army.
Still according to the latter, Russian troops had to retreat after unsuccessfully trying to advance towards the nearby town of Bakhmut, to prevent access to Sievierodonetsk.
Governor Gaïdaï noted that four people were killed on Friday in Luhansk province in attacks carried out by the Russian army.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its troops shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane. It carried weapons and ammunition near the port city of Odessa.
The Russian ministry also claims that the missiles hit an artillery training center near Sumy, where there are foreign instructors. According to the Russian Defense, another strike ruined a position foreign mercenaries in the Odessa region of southern Ukraine.
Still near Odessa, a Russian missile hit an agricultural warehouse, injuring two people, local authorities said.
Ukraine has also said it wants to strengthen its military presence in the region thanks to new Western arms deliveries before resuming peace negotiations with Russia.
Ready to use our armed forces [les nouvelles armes] and I believe we can start a new round of negotiations from strengthened positionssaid Ukrainian negotiator David Arahamia on Friday.
After 100 days of war, Russia claimed on Friday that it had fulfilled some of the goals of special military operations which he launched on February 24th.
Success will be oursUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky answers in a video in which he appears in front of the presidential administration building in kyiv, along with his collaborators.
Since invading Ukraine, the Russian army has tripled the share of the territory it controls: in addition to the Crimean peninsula and the occupied territories of Donbass and southern Ukraine, Russia now has control of nearly 125,000 square kilometers, according to President Zelensky. .
Ukrainian intelligence in contact with prisoners of Azovstal
The Ukrainian Interior Minister said that the intelligence services were in contact with the prisoners of war who defended the Azovstal metallurgical complex in Mariupol. He said the government is doing everything to free them.
It is through [des services de renseignement] that we know their conditions of confinement, their diet and the possibility of their releasesaid Denis Monastirsky on Friday night on Ukrainian television. We hope they are all here in Kyiv, and we are doing everything we can to make it happen.comments of the Minister of the Interior.
The fate of hundreds of Azovstal warriors, held by the Russians since mid-May, remains uncertain. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked them to lay down their arms after nearly three months of siege.
Kyiv wants to achieve their release within the framework of the exchange of prisoners. However, Russian parliamentarians want some of these soldiers to be brought to justice. Moscow, however, ensured that the surrendered fighters were treated in accordance with international law.
Four foreign volunteers were killed
Four foreign volunteers, including a Frenchman, were killed in the fighting in Ukraine, announced on Saturday the International Defense Legion of Ukraine, the official organization of foreign volunteer fighters.
The legion said they were Dutch, Australian, German and French. He mentioned the names of the warriors, but did not specify the date or circumstances of their deaths.
Our brothers and sisters lost the battle, but their bravery, their memory and their heritage will inspire us forever.the legion wrote on its Facebook page, where it posted national flags and photos of four men camouflaged and carrying small arms.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed on Fridaya fighter [français] leave as a volunteer is dead in fights in Ukraine.
Russia this week claimed to have killed hundreds foreign fighters in Ukraine since its aggression began on February 24.
Source: Radio-Canada
