Key city falls to Russia after heavy fighting
RUSSIA took control of a key strategic city in eastern Ukraine as the country’s beleaguered troops were ordered to pull out yesterday.
The mayor of Severodonetsk said it had fallen completely in what is regarded as the biggest advance for Vladimir Putin’s forces since the capture of Mariupol in May.
The war-torn city, which had a population of more than 100,000 before the war, capitulated after weeks of heavy fighting and bombardment. It is ‘now under the full occupation of Russia’, said Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk, adding that the invaders ‘are trying to establish their own order – as far as I know they have appointed some kind of commandant’.
He said that anyone left behind could no longer reach Ukrainianheld territory as the city was now in effect cut off.
The Ukrainian military said in a statement last night: ‘After the withdrawal of our military units, the enemy is consolidating its positions in Severodonetsk.’ Severodonetsk is one of the main cities of Luhansk province in the Donbas region. Reports last night indicated that pro-Moscow separatists and Russian troops have entered Lysychank, the only city left in Luhansk under Ukrainian control.
Russia is not confining its attacks to the Donbas region and is conducting air and missile strikes across Ukraine.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, said 48 cruise missiles were fired on Friday night and in the early hours yesterday.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘48 cruise missiles. At night. Throughout whole Ukraine. Russia is still trying to intimidate Ukraine and cause panic and make people be afraid.’
Russian shelling damaged a nuclear facility in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said. It added that the while the strike damaged some buildings and infrastructure, it did not affect the area housing nuclear fuel.
The Russian defence ministry said last night it killed 80 Polish mercenaries in precision strikes at the Megatex zinc factory in Konstantinova in the Donetsk province, but there was no independent verification of the claim.
The statement marks a worsening of the tension between Russia and Poland, a Nato member.
The Poles have called on Nato to bolster its troops in the Baltic as Russia threatens both Poland and Lithuania for not allowing goods to arrive in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave bordered by the two European countries.