KYIV – Ukraine said today its forces were managing to push back against Russian troops in fierce fighting in Severodonetsk despite Russia “throwing all its power” into capturing the strategic eastern city.
Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in an interview posted on his official social media that the invading forces had captured most of the city “but now our military have moved them”.
“The Russian army, as we understand, is throwing all its power, all its reserves in this direction,” said Gaiday, who yesterday claimed that Ukrainian troops had won back a fifth of the city.
Severodonetsk is the largest city still in Ukrainian hands in the Lugansk region, where Russian forces have been making gradual advances in recent weeks.
Thousands of people have been killed, millions sent fleeing, and towns turned into rubble since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine 101 days ago.
The advance of Russian forces has been slowed by stiff Ukrainian resistance, repelling them from around the capital Kyiv and forcing Moscow to focus on capturing the east.
The press service of Ukraine’s presidential office today said Russian attacks killed four civilians in the Lugansk region as a whole.
The situation in Lysychansk – Severodonetsk’s twin city, which sits just across a river – looked increasingly dire.
About 60% of infrastructure and housing had been destroyed, while internet, mobile networks, and gas services had been knocked out, said its Mayor Oleksandr Zaika.
In the city of Sloviansk, about 80km from Severodonetsk, the mayor has urged residents to evacuate in the face of intense bombardment, with water and electricity cut off.
Ukraine also reported two victims from a missile strike on the port of Odessa in the southwest, without specifying if they were dead or injured.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had struck a “deployment point for foreign mercenaries” in the village of Dachne in the Odessa region.
It also claimed a missile strike in the northeastern Sumy region in a place where it said Ukrainian soldiers were receiving training from foreign instructors on using howitzers. – AFP, June 4, 2022
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