Kyiv said on Saturday that intense fighting in the city, which is the focal point of Russia’s offensive to seize the Donbas region, is forcing Russian troops to withdraw from Sievierodonetsk.
Luhansk province governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian forces had suffered several defeats and blew up bridges over the Siverskyi Donets River to prevent Ukraine from delivering reinforcements and aid to civilians in Sievierodonetsk.
“At the moment our soldiers have driven them back, they (Russians) are suffering heavy losses,” said Gaidai.
The governor claimed that Ukrainian forces had recaptured about one-fifth of the land they had lost in the city.
Both teams suffered significant casualties during the clashes in the Soviet-era industrial city, whose streets were filled with craters and wrecked vehicles.
Sievierodonetsk, neighboring Lysychansk, will be the last city Russia must seize to gain full control of the province of Donetsk, as well as Luhansk, which forms the Donbas. The region has become the focal point of Russia as President Vladimir Putin tries to recover after failing to capture the capital, Kiev.
The Ukrainian military said on Saturday that Russia was using artillery to conduct strike operations in Sievierodonetsk, but Russian forces had withdrawn and Ukrainian troops were holding positions within the city.
The British defense ministry said Russian air activity remained high in the Donbas, where Russian planes carried out guided and unguided munitions strikes.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that a Ukrainian military transport plane carrying weapons and ammunition was shot down near the port of Odessa in the Black Sea.
Tens of thousands died, millions were driven from their homes, and a war that celebrated its 100th day on Friday has paralyzed the global economy.
Ukraine said on Saturday that there was no point in negotiating with Russia until Moscow forces were pushed as far as possible towards Ukraine’s borders.
Ukrainian officials are relying on advanced missile systems that the US and UK have recently promised to excel in the war, and Ukrainian soldiers have already started training with them.
Moscow said Western weapons would “set the gas on fire” but would not change the course of what it called a special operation to liberate Ukraine from dangerous nationalists.
Ukraine is one of the world’s major sources of grain and edible oil, but its shipments have been greatly disrupted by the closure of ports in the Black Sea, where more than 20 million tons of grain are stored.
source: Noticias
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