Hard Fights in Sievierodonetsk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky characterised the situation as extremely difficult “”.

In a televised address, he said that for Russia, taking control of Sievierodonetski is “themone” and said Ukraine was doing everything it could to protect the city from the Russian invasion.

Russian troops have entered the city, energy and communications have been shut down and the “city has been completely destroyed”, Sevierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Striuk told the Associated Press agency in a telephone interview.

The number of victims is increasing every hour, but we are unable to count the dead and injured among street fighting,” said the mayor.

Strick said 12,000 to 13,000 civilians remain in the town, which previously had 100,000 inhabitants. They've taken refuge in basements and bunkers to escape the Russian attack.

He estimates that 1,500 civilians have died in the city since the beginning of the war, from Russian attacks, as well as from the lack of drugs or treatments.

Sievierodonetsk, the last major Ukrainian-populated centre in the eastern province of Luhansk, has become the focus of Russian attacks as Moscow tries to control the Donbas region after failing to bring down Mr. Zelensky or invade the capital, Kiev, over three months of fighting. Sevierodonnetsk is about 140 km from the Russian border.

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Hasai said Russian troops “use the same tactics over and over again. They bomb for a few hours in three, four, five hours in a row and then attack. Attackers die. Then resume the bombing and attacks and so on until they reach somewhere. ”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told French television TF1 on Sunday that Moscow's <x0-dedicated priority is the liberation of Donetsk and Luhansk”, saying Russia views them as the independent “states”.