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Kyiv — Russian troops flocked to the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said Monday.
Pro-Moscow separatists claim that the last bridge from Sievierodonetsk was destroyed, where Ukrainian defenders now need to surrender or die. Ukraine has suffered serious damage, but said there is still another way.
Regional Governor Sergei Gadai said the fighting was intensifying and Ukrainian troops were defending each building.
Russian troops now control about 70% of Severodonetsk and have been destroyed “quarterly” in one of the bloodiest assaults since the invasion began on February 24, he said.
“Russians continue to attack cities, and they have great advantages for artillery that has pushed Ukrainian soldiers back somewhat,” said Guydai, the governor of Luhansk Oblast, including Severodonetsk, on Monday.
He claimed that Russian bombardment struck the Azoth chemical plant, where hundreds of civilians had been evacuated.
Guydai said the twin cities of Lysychans’k, which crossed the Siverskyi Donets in the west, were also bombarded by Russian troops, where a six-year-old child was killed.
Reuters was unable to verify the account on its own.
Russia’s RIA news agency quoted pro-Moscow separatist spokesman Eduardo Baslin, saying that the last bridge over the river connecting the two cities was destroyed on Sunday. Ukrainian troops have been effectively blocked in Sieviero Donetsk and should surrender or die, Baslin said.
Guydai also said that one intersection was destroyed on Sunday, leaving yet another “half-destroyed” bridge that could not be used for heavy vehicles.
“If the bridge collapses after a new bombardment, the city is really blocked. There is no way to leave Severodonetsk in the car.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said in a Sunday night video speech that fierce fighting continued “literally every meter” in Donbus.
In Sievierodonetsk, the last pocket of Ukrainian land in the Luhansk region, both Ukrainian and Russian troops suffered heavy losses, said Roman Vrasenko, head of the Sievierodonetsk district administration. I told the local TV.
Russia wanted to publish the latest of several recent reports stating that it had destroyed US and European weapons and equipment, and to send a message that it was useless to provide more.
The Russian Defense Ministry said a high-precision air-launched missile attacked near the Udakne railway station northwest of Donetsk, attacking equipment handed over to Ukrainian troops. There was no immediate word from the Ukrainian side.
Moscow criticized the United States and other countries for sending Ukrainian weapons and threatened to attack new targets if the West supplied long-range missiles.
Natalia Ginets and Maria Starkova
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