By Pavel Polityuk and Abdelaziz Boumzar
Kyiv/SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Sievierodonetsk came under another heavy attack Wednesday from Russian forces, who see the takeover of the industrial city as the key to control of the region surrounding Luhansk.
In southern Ukraine, another major battlefield in the war, Russian attacks on agricultural areas, including warehouses, have exacerbated a global food crisis, raising famine concerns in some developing countries, officials said.
Turkey hosted the Russian Foreign Minister to discuss the UN plan to open a Black Sea corridor for Ukraine’s grain exports. Russia’s Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine must first clear explosive mines in its ports – a move Kiev fears will make it more vulnerable to attack from the sea.
For weeks, Russian forces had focused on taking Sievierodonetsk, which was home to about 106,000 people before Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24. The governor of the Luhansk region said that Ukrainian forces will not surrender in the city.
“The struggle continues and even if our army has to retreat to stronger positions, nobody will give up on the city. That doesn’t mean that someone has given up on the city – nobody will give up on anything. But they may have to retreat,” Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian television.
He said Russian forces would further increase their bombardment of Sivierodonetsk and the small twin city of Lysychansk on the west bank of the Siverskyi Donets River.
Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk province make up the Donbas region, which Moscow has claimed for Russian-speaking separatists, who have occupied parts of the region since 2014.
“The absolutely heroic defense of the Donbas continues,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday. Said. “The invaders did not believe that the resistance of our army would be so strong, and now they are trying to bring new resources to the Donbas.”
Reuters could not independently confirm the situation in Sieverodonetsk.
Moscow said it was participating in a “special military operation” to disarm and “sanitize” its neighbor. Ukraine and its allies describe it as a baseless excuse for a war that has killed thousands, destroyed cities and forced millions to flee.
Since the defeat of its forces outside Kyiv in March, Russia has turned its focus to the Donbas region.
In the statement made by Zelenskiy’s office, it was stated that 2 people died and 2 people were injured in the last 24 hours in the Luhansk region, 5 civilians died in the Donetsk region, 4 people died in the Kharkov region and 11 people were injured.
In Sloviansk, one of the main cities of Donbas still controlled by Ukraine, about 85 km west of Sievierodonetsk, women with young children lined up to collect aid, while other residents carried buckets of water around the city.
Most residents have fled, but officials say around 24,000 remain in the city in response to an expected attack by Russian forces regrouping in the north.
While waiting with a child in the stroller, Irina, who did not give her last name, said, “I am staying, I am not leaving without my husband. He works here. That’s how we decided, we stay.” outside a distribution center.
source: Noticias
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