Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky declared that his troops are facing “more powerful” Russian forces in Severodonietsk, a strategic city in the eastern region that has been bombed for weeks.
“We are resisting, but they are more powerful,” Zelensky admitted a day after visiting Ukrainian forces near the eastern war front. Between 10,000 and 15,000 civilians are still in Severodonietsk, the president told reporters in kyiv.
Hours earlier, Sergei Gaiday, governor of the Lugansk region, said the situation had “worsened” for the Ukrainian army, despite a counterattack that had regained control of half of Severodonietsk.
It was unclear which side had the upper hand. “The situation changes every hour,” according to statements by Oleksandr Striuk, head of the Severodonietsk administration.
Striuk claimed that street fighting was intense and that neither side was preparing a withdrawal. Both sides say they have inflicted heavy casualties on each other.
Ukraine’s defense ministry said Russia was sending troops and equipment to capture the largest city remaining under Ukrainian control in Lugansk, which together with Donietsk makes up the Donbas region.
For Moscow, controlling this city would be a lever to completely take control of the Donbas mining basin.
Lysychansik, a neighboring city of Severodonietsk, was one of the points that Zelensky visited a few days ago on a trip that served to “observe the operational situation on the front line,” according to the presidency.
Russian forces began their offensive on other fronts in eastern Ukraine. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, his troops attacked three weapons depots and a fuel depot near Kodema, in the Donietsk region.
kyiv warned that the situation in Kherson, a little further north, was critical. There are no mobile phone networks or Internet, food supplies, medicine or cash.
And in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, new Russian attacks hit an armored car repair factory near Lozova, according to Moscow.
Ukraine underlined that it had repulsed seven attacks around Donietsk and Lugansk. But Russian troops, kyiv admits, occupy a fifth of the territory and have imposed a blockade on Black Sea ports.
The Ukrainian navy claimed to have pushed the Russian fleet back more than a hundred kilometers from the Black Sea coast.
