The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces, whose invasion has lasted 98 days, were also shelling targets, including key infrastructure, in other eastern and southern regions, including the city of Sievierodonetsk, an industrial center which has been the main target of the Russian offensive in recent days.
President Joe Biden has announced the supply of advanced rocket systems and ammunition that can accurately strike long-range Russian targets, as part of a $700 million weapons program due to be unveiled on Wednesday.
“We acted quickly to send Ukraine a significant quantity of arms and ammunition so that it could fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table,” Mr. Biden in a New York Times opinion piece.
A senior Biden administration official said the new supplies — which come on top of billions of dollars in other equipment such as drones and anti-aircraft missiles — include the M142 high-mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS), which kyiv has said is “crucial” in countering Russian missile attacks.
Moscow evaluated the new American assistance program in an “extremely negative” way, declared the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, to the national news agency RIA Novosti.
Responding to concerns that such weapons could embroil the United States in direct conflict, senior administration officials said Ukraine had given assurances that the missiles would not be used to strike in Russia.
“These systems will be used by the Ukrainians to repel Russian advances on Ukrainian territory, but they will not be used on targets in Russian territory,” said an American official.
NUCLEAR FORCES
Shortly after the US decision was announced, Russia’s Defense Minister said Russian nuclear forces were holding exercises in Ivanovo province, northeast of Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported.
Some 1,000 soldiers were exercising intense maneuvers using more than 100 vehicles, including Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, the minister said.
The Interfax report does not mention the US decision to supply new weapons.
The Ukrainian General Staff said that Russian forces continued to shell the northern, southern and eastern districts of the city of Sievierodonetsk Luhansk, one of two provinces in the eastern Donbas region that Moscow claims on behalf of the separatists.
If Russia captures Sievierodonetsk, and its smaller twin, Lysychansk, on the higher western bank of the Siverskyi Donets River, it will hold all of Luhansk, a key war objective for President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
The city is now largely reduced to rubble, with nearly all critical infrastructure destroyed and 60% of residential properties damaged beyond repair, regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Tuesday. Russian shelling has made it impossible to deliver aid or evacuate people, he added.
The British Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence bulletin that Russian forces, including Chechen fighters, now control more than half of Sievierodonetsk after two days of intense street fighting.
The leader of the pro-Moscow Luhansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, told the TASS news agency that Russian proxies had moved slower than expected to “maintain the city’s infrastructure” and exercise caution around of its chemical plants.
Gaidai warned residents of Sievierodonetsk not to leave bomb shelters due to what he said was a Russian airstrike on a nitric acid tank. The police forces of the People’s Republic of Luhansk accused the Ukrainian forces of having damaged it.
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council humanitarian agency which has long operated out of Sievierodonetsk, said he was “horrified” by its destruction.
Up to 12,000 civilians remain caught in the crossfire, without sufficient access to water, food, medicine or electricity, Egeland said.
“Near-constant shelling is forcing civilians into bomb shelters and basements, with only a few precious opportunities for those trying to escape,” he said.
WEAPONS PACKAGES
Ukraine says weapons sent in by the United States and other countries since the invasion began have helped repel Russian gains.
The new US package includes munitions, counterfire radars, a number of air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank missiles, as well as anti-armour weapons, officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for more weapons while blaming the European Union, which agreed Monday to cut Russian oil imports, for not sanctioning energy from Russia sooner.
The EU said it would ban imports of Russian oil by sea. Officials said this would end two-thirds of Russian oil exports to Europe initially, and 90% by the end of the year.
In response to the EU oil embargo, Russia has widened its gas cuts to Europe, driving up prices and intensifying its economic battle with Brussels.
Putin launched his “special operation” on February 24 to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine. Ukraine and its Western allies consider this a baseless pretext for a war aimed at seizing territory.
Ukraine accuses Russia of large-scale war crimes, razing cities and killing and raping civilians. Russia denies these accusations.