The Ukrainian governor of Luhansk province, which is part of Donbas, said in a message on Telegram on Monday evening that the situation was changing from hour to hour.
Sievierodonetsk has become the main target of the Russian offensive in the Donbas – which includes Luhansk and Donetsk provinces – as the Kremlin invasion continues in a war of attrition that has seen towns devastated by barrages of ‘artillery.
Ukraine’s defense minister said Russia was injecting troops and equipment into its campaign to capture the largest city still held by the Ukrainians, Luhansk.
Provincial Governor Serhiy Gaidai said earlier on Monday that the situation had worsened after Ukrainian defenders pushed back the Russians over the weekend as they looked close to victory.
President Volodomyr Zelenskiy later said at a press briefing in the capital kyiv that the situation was “difficult in the east”.
He added: “We have the situation under control, there are more (Russians), they are more powerful, but we have every chance to fight. If there is a (Russian) breakthrough in the Donbas, it will be very difficult.”
Sievierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said street fighting was raging and neither side was preparing to withdraw. Both sides claim to have inflicted huge losses on each other.
In its overnight update, Ukraine’s military said two civilians were killed in Russian shelling in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Monday and that Russian forces fired on more than 20 communities.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports. Russia denies targeting civilians in the conflict.
Russia says it is on a mission to “liberate” the Donbas – partially held by separatist proxies from Moscow since 2014 – after Ukrainian forces pushed its troops back from the capital kyiv and Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, early of the war.
Zelenskiy sought to rally his troops on Sunday with a visit to two towns close to the front lines.
“What you all deserve is victory – that’s the most important thing. But not just any price,” Zelenskiy said in a video.
He said he visited Lysychansk, south of Sievierodonetsk, and Soledar – rare outings for him outside kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
Russia describes its action in Ukraine as a “special military operation” aimed at eradicating what it considers to be threats to its security. Ukraine and its Western allies call this claim absurd and claim that Russia is waging an unprovoked war to seize territory that risks escalating into a wider European conflict.
PUTIN’S WARNING
In a coordinated move with the United States, Britain said it would supply Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems that can hit targets up to 80 km away, providing the most accurate firepower and long range needed to reach the Russian artillery batteries, a key element of Moscow’s battle plans.
Mr Zelenskiy said that kyiv was gradually receiving “specific anti-ship systems”, and that these would be the best way to end a Russian blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports preventing grain exports.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would respond to Western deliveries of long-range weapons by pushing Ukrainian forces further from the Russian border.
On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia would hit new targets if the West provided longer-range missiles. On the same day, Russian missiles hit kyiv for the first time in over a month.
TANK DESTROYER
Ukraine’s defense minister said Russian forces were also advancing towards Sloviansk, which lies about 85 km (53 miles) west of Sievierodonetsk.
Some 60 km to the south, on the front line near Bakhmut, Ukrainian soldiers said the situation was difficult but they had no choice but to repel the Russians.
A unit commander, who gave his name Maxym, appealed for more weapons from Ukraine’s allies.
“With more anti-tank weapons, we would be able to destroy their tanks, cause maximum damage and the enemy will be forced to flee from where they came from,” he told Reuters. “…We will fight for every bit of this territory.”
Russian forces are fortifying their positions in the Kharkiv region and bombing Ukrainian positions to maintain control of the territory they have occupied, the Ukrainian military headquarters said.
Western countries have imposed sanctions of unprecedented scale and severity on Russia for its invasion.
On Monday, Russia’s foreign ministry said it had imposed personal sanctions on 61 US officials, including treasury and energy secretaries, as well as defense and media officials. He said it was a retaliatory measure against “the steady expansion of US sanctions”.