Russia tightens grip on key cities as Donbas fight rages
In Severodonetsk, where an estimated 15,000 civilians remain, a local official said ‘constant shelling’ made it increasingly difficult to get in or out
KRAMATORSK, UKRAINE: The battle for control of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas raged on Sunday as Russian forces tightened their grip around the key cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.
The situation in Lysychansk had become “significantly worse”, the regional governor of the Lugansk region, Sergiy Gaiday, said on the messaging service, Telegram.
“A Russian shell fell on a residential building, a girl died and four people were hospitalised,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the eastern bank of the Donets river, Russian forces “carried out assault operations in the area of the city of Severodonetsk”, according to the Ukrainian general staff.
Fighting was advancing street-by-street in the city, Gaiday said.
‘ Very difficult’
Since failing to capture the capital Kyiv in the early stages of the war, Russia has shifted its focus to the eastern Donbas region as it attempts to consolidate areas under its control.
“The situation is very difficult, especially in those areas in the Donbas and Kharkiv regions, where the Russian army is trying to squeeze at least some result for itself,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation late Saturday.
Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry had said the “town of Krasny Liman (Moscow’s name for Lyman) has been entirely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists.”
Lyman lies on the road to Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk, which is “now surrounded”, according to a police official in Lugansk province cited by Russian state media.
But governor Gaiday insisted that “Severodonetsk has not been cut off”.
“There is still the possibility to deliver humanitarian aid,” he told Ukrainian television.
Constant shelling
In Severodonetsk, where an estimated
15,000 civilians remain, a local official said “constant shelling” made it increasingly difficult to get in or out. “Evacuation is very unsafe, it’s isolated cases when we manage to get people out. Now the priority is for the wounded and people who need serious medical assistance,” said Oleksandr Stryuk, head of the city’s military and civil administration.
The water supply was also increasingly unstable, as a lack of electricity meant the pumps at city wells no longer functioned, he said.
Need for more arms
Urgent calls by Zelensky for more advanced weaponry from Ukraine’s Western allies appear to paying off, with Washington agreeing to send advanced long-range rocket systems, according to US media reports.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby did not confirm the plans to deliver the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, highly mobile equipment capable of firing up to 300 kilometres that Kyiv has said it badly needs.
But he said Washington was “still committed to helping them succeed on the battlefield”.
Talks at dead-end?
Ukrainian presidential adviser and peace talks negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said on Saturday that any agreement with Russia could not be trusted, adding the only way to stop Moscow’s invasion was by force. “Any agreement with Russia isn’t worth a broken penny,” Podolyak wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other after peace talks stalled, with the last known face-to-face negotiations on March 29. The Kremlin has said Ukraine was showing no willingness to continue talks, while officials in Kyiv blamed Russia for the lack of progress.
Zelensky said the only person worth talking to was Russian President Vladimir Putin, since he made all the decisions.
“It doesn’t matter what their foreign minister says. It doesn’t matter that he sends some negotiating group to us ... all these people are nobodies, unfortunately,” he told Dutch television in an interview.