The Ukrainian military admitted on Monday (13) that Russian troops managed to drive their troops out of the center of Severodonetsk, a strategic city in eastern Ukraine that has been the scene of conflict for several weeks.
“The enemy, with the support of artillery, attacked Severodonetsk with a partial victory and drove our troops out of the city centre. The conflict continues,” the army said in a statement on Facebook.
“The human cost to us of this war is very high,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily message. “It’s just scary,” he said.
Sergei Gaiday, governor of the Luhansk region, where Severodonetsk is the administrative center of the part controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, confirmed that Ukrainian forces had been driven out of the city centre.
“Street fighting continues … Russians continue to destroy the city,” he said in a Facebook message, along with images of buildings destroyed or burning.
Pro-Russian separatists fighting in the area said the last Ukrainian divisions in Severodonetsk were “blocked” after the last bridge that allowed access to the nearby city of Lysychansk was destroyed.
“There are two possibilities: surrender or die,” said Eduard Basurin, spokesman for the separatists.
Gaiday refused to block.
“Ball Bait”
For Moscow troops, taking control of Severodonetsk will pave the way for them to take command of Kramatorsk, another major Donbass city, and will be an important step towards conquering the entire border region with Russia, which has since been partially in the hands of pro-Russian separatists. 2014.
According to Governor Gaiday, the Azot chemical plant, where nearly 500 civilians, including 40 children, were refugees, was the target of Russian bombardment. Treatment plants were hit by bullets.
Gaiday added that in the nearby city of Lysychansk, three civilians, including a six-year-old boy, have been killed in bombings in the past 24 hours.
On the other hand, pro-Russian separatists condemned that four people were killed and 22 injured in the “large” bomb attack carried out by Ukrainian forces on the city of Donetsk, the capital of the republic that bears the same name.
New ditch near Bucha
Bombings continue in other parts of the region. Authorities announced that three Russian missiles hit the town of Pryluky in the north and four villages were evacuated due to the fire threat from the bombing.
Further west, near Bucha, Kyiv police said seven bodies had been found in a new mass grave near the town of Myrotske.
“Seven civilians were tortured by the Russians and cowardly executed with a bullet to the head,” Kyiv police chief Andrei Nebytov said on Facebook. “A few victims had their hands and knees tied,” he added.
After Russian soldiers left the Kyiv region at the end of March, authorities found the bodies of about 100 Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, which has become a symbol of war crimes, and Ukraine blames Russia. Moscow denies these accusations.
Amnesty International on Monday accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine and said hundreds of civilians were killed in relentless attacks by cluster bombs in Kharkov, many of which opened in the air and released thousands of small explosives that could reach wider areas. fields.
Such bombs are prohibited by international treaties.
loss of arable land
Some areas in the south and east of Ukraine’s territory have lost 25 percent of their arable land due to Russian occupation, the agriculture ministry announced on Monday.
“Despite the loss of 25% of arable land, the composition of the crops planted this year is more than enough to guarantee the consumption of the Ukrainian people,” said Taras Vysotskiy, deputy agriculture minister.
The conflict in Ukraine worries the international community as it leads to higher food prices and the blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
Faced with a possible food crisis, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) met on Sunday to find a solution.
The UN and many countries are trying to open a maritime corridor to allow exports.
But the meeting was marked by tension, especially when delegates condemned the Russian attack and praised the Ukrainian president, according to agency spokesman Dan Pruzin.
source: Noticias
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