Russia’s all-out assault on the city in the Ukrainian province of Luhansk has met with strong resistance from Ukrainian forces. The Russian-backed separatists in Luhansk admitted that the capture of the city was taking longer than expected, despite one of the largest ground attacks of the three-month war.
After failing to take the Ukrainian capital kyiv and being driven out of northern Ukraine, a Russian victory in Sievierodonetsk and across the river Siverskyi Donets Lysychansk would bring full control of Luhansk, one of the two eastern provinces that Moscow claims on behalf of the Spartans.
Western military analysts say Moscow has drained manpower and firepower from other parts of the eastern front to focus on Sievierodonetsk, hoping a massive offensive will secure the surrounding province of Luhansk for the separatist proxies.
Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said almost all critical infrastructure in Sievierodonetsk had been destroyed and 60% of residential properties were beyond repair.
“Most of Sievierodonetsk is under Russian control. The town is not surrounded and the preconditions for it to be are not met,” Gaidai said. Russian shelling has made it impossible to deliver aid or evacuate people, he added.
A pro-Moscow separatist leader said fighting was raging in the city but Russian proxies had advanced more slowly than expected to “maintain the city’s infrastructure” and exercise caution around its chemical plants.
“We can already say that a third of Sievierodonetsk is already under our control,” Russian state news agency TASS said, quoting Leonid Pasechnik, leader of the pro-Moscow Luhansk People’s Republic.
Mr 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 Luhansk People’s Republic police force said Ukrainian forces damaged it. Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists swapped charges over a similar incident in April.
MEN AND AMMUNITION
Russian President Vladimir Putin is now “throwing men and ammunition” at Sievierodonetsk, “as if taking it will win the war for the Kremlin. He is wrong,” the Institute for the Study of the war, low Washington.
Thousands of residents remain trapped in the city. Russian forces are advancing towards its center, but slowly, regional governor Gaidai said. Russia’s advance could force Ukrainian troops to retreat across the river to Lysychansk, he added.
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, 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 added.
In its evening Facebook briefing, Ukraine’s military command said Russian forces were “trying to take full control of Sievierodonetsk” and surround Ukrainian units fighting there.
There were few reports of major changes elsewhere on the battlefield.
East, Ukraine says Moscow is trying to attack other areas along the main front, regrouping to press towards the city of Sloviansk. In the south, Ukraine has claimed in recent days to have pushed back the Russian forces to the border of the province of Kherson, held by the Russians.
BAN ON PETROLEUM
In response to the European Union’s deal reached last night to cut Russian oil imports, Moscow has widened its gas cuts to Europe, driving up prices and intensifying its economic battle with Brussels.
Russian company Gazprom said it would halt deliveries to Dutch gas trader GasTerra and Danish company Orsted, as well as Shell Energy for its gas supply contract to Germany, after they refused the payment scheme in rubles for gas offered by Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the EU’s decision to cut Russian oil imports by 90%, the Union’s toughest response yet, but criticized what he called an “unacceptable” delay .
The EU has said it will ban imports of Russian oil by sea. Officials said it would end two-thirds of Russian oil exports to Europe initially, then 90% by the end of the year, with Germany and Poland also phasing out imports by pipeline.
But Hungary, which depends on Russian oil via a Soviet-era pipeline, was granted an exemption.
Putin launched his “special operation” in February to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine. Ukraine and its Western allies consider this a baseless pretext for a war aimed at seizing territory.
Ukraine accuses Moscow of large-scale war crimes, razing cities and killing and raping civilians. Russia denies these accusations.
In the second war crimes trial to be held in Ukraine, two Russian soldiers were jailed on Tuesday for 11 and a half years after pleading guilty to bombing civilian targets.