Russian troops control about 80 percent of the heavily disputed city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, and have destroyed three bridges. But Ukrainian authorities are still trying to evacuate the wounded, a regional official said on Tuesday.
Serhiy Haidai, governor of the eastern Luhansk region, acknowledged that now “mass evacuation of civilians from Sievierodonetsk is now simply not possible” due to bombing and relentless fighting.
Ukrainian forces have been pushed to the industrial outskirts of the city because of the “scorched earth method and heavy artillery that the Russians are using,” he said.
The rubble hangs from a heavily damaged residential building in a Russian bombing raid on Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Fighting has taken place around Lysychansk and neighboring Sievierodonetsk, the last major Ukrainian-controlled cities in the Luhansk region. (AP)
“There is still an opportunity for the evacuation of the wounded, communication with the Ukrainian army and local residents,” he told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that Russian forces have not yet completely blocked the city. strategic.
About 12,000 people remain in Sievierodonetsk, a pre-war population of 100,000. According to Haidai, more than 500 civilians are taking refuge in the city’s Azot chemical plant, which is being beaten relentlessly by the Russians.
A Russian general, meanwhile, said a humanitarian corridor would open on Wednesday to evacuate civilians from the Azot plant. Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev said the evacuees would be taken to the town of Svatovo, 60 km north in territory under the control of Russian and separatist forces.
He said the plan was made after Ukraine asked for an evacuation corridor leading to the territory it controls.
Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Management Center, is accused by Ukraine of human rights violations while commanding troops during the long siege of Mariupol, Ukraine’s key port in the Sea of Azov which has been occupied by the Russians.
Russian forces have been pushing hard in recent weeks to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbass industrial zone, which borders Russia and is made up of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
“The situation is difficult,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a news conference with the Danish media on Tuesday.
“Our job is to fight.”
With the conflict in its fourth month, the Battle of Donbas could dictate the course of the war.
If Russia prevails, Ukraine will lose not only land, but perhaps most of its most capable military forces, paving the way for Moscow to take more territory and dictate its terms to Kyiv.
A Russian failure, however, could lay the groundwork for a Ukrainian counteroffensive and possible political upheaval for the Kremlin.
Ukrainian forces have been driven to the industrial outskirts of Sievierodonetsk, a key city in eastern Ukraine. (Getty)
In other news, French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Romania on Tuesday to hold bilateral talks and meet with French troops stationed there as part of NATO’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. .
Macron’s visit to Romania, a member of the European Union since 2007 and a member of NATO since 2004, marked the start of a regional tour that includes a non-NATO visit to Moldova on Wednesday. Both countries share long borders with the assaulted Ukraine.
“No one knows what awaits us in the coming weeks and months, but we will do everything we can to end the Russian invasion, to help the Ukrainians and to continue negotiations,” Macron told Mihail East Air Base. Kogalniceanu. , where he was received by Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca.
In a brief address to French soldiers deployed at NATO base, Macron praised them for “honoring our commitment to defend Europe while the war is being waged again.”
Children receive classes in explosives in Ukraine