The situation in the Donbas remains confusing – and changes by the hour.
According to the responsible Ukrainian regional governor, Putin’s troops now have the fiercely contested eastern Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk (once 105,000 inhabitants) “largely” under control again – four people were killed when the Azot chemical plant was shelled.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, wrote this on Telegram on Thursday. But: “The industrial area is still ours, there are no Russians there,” he said before.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (44) spoke of heavy fighting in the city in a video broadcast in the evening: “This is a very hard, very difficult battle, probably one of the most difficult in this war,” he said. “We defend our positions and inflict heavy casualties on the enemy.”
In Seyerodonetsk “in many ways the fate of our Donbas will be decided,” he added. To put it plainly: it is the decisive battle for the region – the troops of Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin (69) are already besieging most of the Luhansk region.
“The Russians are shooting at everything, they are destroying all the houses in Sieverodonetsk, with tanks and artillery,” Gaiday said. The nearby city of Lysychansk, on the other hand, is still fully controlled by the Ukrainian army, but is subject to “heavy and chaotic” bombardment.
He accused Russian troops of “deliberately” targeting hospitals and centers for the distribution of humanitarian aid.
According to a lawyer for the Ukrainian magnate Dmytro Firtash, around 800 civilians (200 employees, 600 residents of the city) have holed up in the shelters of the Azot chemical plant. The employees stayed to secure the “highly explosive chemicals” on the premises.
The regional governor had previously described the defense of Sieverodonetsk as a “mission impossible”. Ukrainian forces may have to withdraw. However, Gaiday stressed that a withdrawal from Sieverodonetsk would not mean that Ukraine would finally abandon the city.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (67) said on Tuesday that the Russian armed forces had full control of the city’s residential areas. The Russian army is still trying to conquer the industrial area and the surrounding settlements.
Photo: Unknown/dpa
” data-zoom-src=”https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/die-asot-fabrik-in-sjewjerodonetsk-a16cb3634460464694347fe2f2a3c240-80345280/Bild/5.bild.jpg”/> The Asot factory in ShevjerodonezkPhoto: Unknown/dpa
Sieverodonetsk and Lysichansk are the last cities of the Luhansk region that Russia has not yet conquered. Their capture would allow Moscow to advance towards the major city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region. This would bring the Kremlin a decisive step closer to its goal of completely conquering the Donbass.
Thousands of civilians had fled Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk in the past few weeks. However, many have stayed, especially the elderly, people who care for them and people who do not have the means to go elsewhere.