Status: 06/13/2022 8:11 p.m
Russian troops have taken control of most of Sieverodonetsk. The Ukrainian army admitted to having been pushed out of the center. In addition, the last bridge into the city is said to have been destroyed.
After weeks of fierce fighting, the Ukrainian army says it has been pushed back from the center of the strategically important city of Sievjerodonetsk in the Donbass region. The Russian army, with the support of its artillery, “partially” succeeded in pushing back the Ukrainian soldiers in the city center, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Facebook.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajdaj, also reported a “partial” success of the Russian troops. The Russians destroyed district after district, he explained on Facebook.
In the evening, Hajdaj sent a telegram saying that the Russian army had also destroyed the third and last bridge from Sieverodonetsk over the Seversky Donets River. This means that Sievjerodonetsk is not completely sealed off. However, it is not possible to evacuate civilians or bring aid supplies into the city, according to Hajdaj.
Vassili Golod, WDR, currently Kyiv, on the current situation in Ukraine
tagesschau24 09:00 a.m., 13.6.2022
“Fight for Every Meter”
A few hours earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had declared that in the strategically important Sievjerodonetsk, “literally every meter was being fought for”. According to their own statements, Ukrainian troops still controlled around a third of the city on Saturday.
Shaded in white: advance of the Russian army. Shaded in green: Russian-backed separatist areas. Crimea: annexed by Russia.
Image: ISW/06/12/2022
For days, Sievjerodonetsk has been the center of heavy fighting in the Luhansk region, more than 90 percent of which Russian and pro-Russian fighters have already captured. The Azot chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk was also fired upon. According to Ukrainian sources, civilians who used the plant premises as an air raid shelter are still staying there.
Sieverodonetsk and Lysichansk are the last two cities in Luhansk that Russia has not yet captured. A capture of Sieverodonetsk should give Russian troops a significant boost in their attempt to gain control of the entire Donbass in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine asks again for German weapons
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy asked again for modern air defense systems. According to a media report, the Ukraine is hoping that the forthcoming visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Kyiv will result in the immediate delivery of German tanks.
“Unfortunately, without German heavy weapons, we will not be able to break Russia’s massive military superiority and save the lives of soldiers and civilians,” Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk told the dpa news agency.
“The Ukrainians expect that Chancellor Olaf Scholz will announce a new aid package for German armaments during his visit to Kyiv, which should definitely include Leopard 1 main battle tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles that can be delivered immediately,” said Melnyk.
Topic overview
war in Ukraine
Ukraine war: high expectations in Kyiv for Scholz’s visit
Stephan Laack, ARD Moscow, June 13, 2022 3:43 p.m