Intense fighting in Severodonetsk outskirts | Battle of Severodonetsk скачать в хорошем качестве

Intense fighting in Severodonetsk outskirts | Battle of Severodonetsk

Ukrainian troops have been pushed back in the eastern city of Severodonetsk by constant bombardment from Russian forces, and now only control its outskirts, according to a regional official. Russia has concentrated its troops and firepower on the small eastern city in recent weeks to secure the surrounding province on behalf of separatist proxies. Ukraine has promised to fight there for as long as possible, saying the battle could help shape the war’s future course. “In many respects, the fate of the Donbas is being decided there,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an online address. After claiming to have pushed Russian forces back and secured half of the city in a surprise counterattack last week, the governor of the surrounding Luhansk region said most of the city was again in Russian hands. “… Our [forces] now again control only the outskirts of the city. But the fighting is still going on, our [forces] are defending Severodonetsk, it is impossible to say the Russians completely control the city,” Serhiy Haidai was quoted as saying by the RBC-Ukraine media outlet on Wednesday. The regional administration also estimated Russia to have seized more than 98 percent of Luhansk, claimed by Moscow for its proxies who have held eastern parts of the region since 2014. Haidai said long-range artillery supplied by the West would give Ukraine the firepower it needs to beat back Russian forces and capture Severodonetsk within days. “As soon as we have long-range artillery to be able to conduct duels with Russian artillery, our special forces can clean up the city in two to three days,” the governor said in an interview distributed on his official social media channels on Thursday. Ukraine has urged its Western allies to speed up the delivery of weapons, saying the situation would become very difficult for the country if Russia broke through its lines in the east. Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told a briefing on Wednesday that Russian forces possess 10 times more equipment than Ukrainian troops in some areas of Severodonetsk. Severodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said Ukrainian forces still held the industrial zone and adjacent areas and that about 10,000 civilians remained in the city. Ukrainian police released footage showing the evacuation of elderly people from Lysychansk, some 10 kilometres away. In Sloviansk, one of the main Donbas cities still held by Ukraine, about 85km (52 miles) to the west of Severodonetsk, women with small children lined up to collect aid while other residents carried buckets of water across the city. Most residents have fled but authorities say about 24,000 remain in the city, in the path of an expected assault by Russian forces regrouping to the north. Moscow says it is engaged in a “special military operation” to disarm and “de-Nazify” its neighbour. Ukraine and allies call this a baseless pretext for a war that has killed thousands, flattened cities and forced millions of people to flee. #severodonetsk #donbas #luhansk #donbass #lysychansk #russiaukrainewar #russiaukrainewarupdates #russiaukraineconflict #russiaukraine #russiaukrainenews #ukrainewar #donetsk