A Ukrainian local official announced today that Ukrainian forces must leave Severodonetsk after weeks of offensive by Russian troops, and attacks that left the city in rubble.
The news comes hours after the European Union (EU) strongly supported Ukraine in granting candidate country status, but the process could take years before Kiev joins the bloc.
The capture of Severodonetsk in the eastern Donbass region has become a crucial Russian objective after its troops were forced to leave Kiev at the start of the four-month invasion on Friday.
The strategic city has been the scene of fierce fighting in the streets for weeks, as the Ukrainians tried to overcome the disadvantage of the war with strong resistance.
But on Friday, the governor of the Lugansk region, where the industrial city is located, Sergei Gaiday, announced that the troops must leave the city.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces will have to withdraw from Severodonetsk. That’s what they were ordered to do,” he said on Telegram.
“There is no point in staying in positions that have been bombed nonstop for months,” he said.
The governor said the city had “nearly fallen into rubble” due to the constant bombing.
“All critical infrastructure has been destroyed: 90% of the city has been damaged, 80% of the houses will have to be demolished,” he said.
Image: REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak
The conquest of Severodonetsk will enable the Russians to advance towards the nearby city of Lysychansk, consolidate control of the Lugansk region, and advance the offensive across the Donbass mining basin, which has been partially under pro-Moscow control since 2014. separatists.
Lysychansk was bombed
Gaiday reported that the Russians were advancing towards Lysychansk, which is now under heavy siege by Moscow troops, who are brutally bombarding the city.
AFP journalists, who left the city on Thursday, had to get out of the vehicle they were traveling in twice and hide on the ground as Russia bombed the city’s main supply route.
The situation for those who remained in Lysychansk looks dire.
Speaking to AFP, Liliya Nesterenko said that her home did not have natural gas, water and electricity. She and her mother are cooking over an open fire.
A representative of pro-Russian separatists described the Ukrainian resistance as “useless”.
“I believe that at the pace our troops are advancing, very soon the entire territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic will be liberated,” Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Marochko, spokesman for the pro-Russian militia, told AFP via video call.
In the Russian-controlled city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, a Moscow-appointed official was killed in a bomb attack with explosives planted in his car, according to Russian news agencies.
The Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, confirmed the victim’s identity to the RIA Novosti news agency. “Yes, one of my employees died. Dmitri Savlushenko was Minister of Youth and Sports.”
Ukraine insists on demanding more weapons, and on Thursday the US government announced $450 million in new military aid to Kiev.
Historical EU decision
At the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, the leaders of 27 countries agreed to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, another former Soviet republic whose territory is partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked him for his support, which he described as a “unique and historic moment” in relations between his country and the EU.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the decision sent a “very strong signal” to Russia.
After the EU summit, it will be the G7 meeting and then the NATO meeting, the last two with the participation of US President Joe Biden.
A source from the US government said Sunday’s G7 meeting could announce new sanctions against Russia.
source: Noticias
[author_name]
