Defenders forced back
Ukrainian troops retreat as Russian invaders lay siege to strategic city
Russian troops in eastern Ukraine are laying siege to Severodonetsk, the latest city to become a flashpoint in three months of war.
The advancing forces managed to destroy a bridge leading into the city, the largest in Ukrainian hands in the oblast, or district, of Luhansk, one of two “breakaway republics” in the east of the country.
The Russians threaten to encircle the Ukrainian forces defending Severodonetsk.
Their advance had been held up when a column of tanks was blown up and sunk two weeks ago as it crossed a nearby pontoon bridge. But the Russians have managed to resume their progress.
As plumes of thick smoke filled the sky over the city, soldiers confirmed the Ukrainians were retreating.
“Troops are leaving their positions as the Russians advance,” a soldier in a mobile battery of self-propelled guns told The Times, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The soldier said he had arrived in Severodonetsk only a week earlier before having to withdraw.
Heavier Ukrainian equipment was being brought in. Eight tanks on transporters were being carried east, though their final destination was unclear.
The Ukrainians are taking heavy casualties. “The Russians will take this area but we are doing everything we can to stop it,” said Georgiy, 35, a member of the special operations forces. He had come from the village of Komyshuvakha, about halfway along the road between Bakhmut and Severodonetsk.
“We’ve had lots of losses here. You can be talking to a colleague one moment and in the next he’s gone. Yesterday two new guys aged around 19 joined us. They were dead by the evening.”
In a video address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation in Donbas as “really hard” but added: “The fact that we are able to say this on the 87th day of a full-scale war against Russia is good news.
“Every day that our defenders take away from these offensive plans of Russia, disrupting them, is a concrete contribution to the approach of the main day. The desired day that we are all looking forward to and fighting for: Victory Day.”