Russia declares full control of Severodonetsk residential neighborhoods
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced today, Tuesday, that Russia has “completely” taken control of residential neighborhoods in the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, where the fighting in the region is concentrated.
“The residential areas of Severodonetsk have been completely liberated,” he said in a brief statement broadcast on television.
According to the defense minister, Moscow currently controls 97 percent of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, in which Severodentsk is located. “Liman and Svyatogersk, as well as 15 other cities, were liberated,” he said.
If confirmed, the control of these two cities will be important because it will remove the last obstacle towards the symbolic city of Sloviansk and towards Kramatorsk, the capital of the Donetsk region under the control of Ukraine.
On the other hand, according to Shoigu, “126 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered in five days” to the Russian forces and there are 6,489 in captivity since the start of the Russian military operation on February 24.
For his part, Oleksandr Stryuk, mayor of Severodonetsk, told Ukrainian TV today that the city’s defenders are doing everything possible to maintain their positions on the front line in the eastern city, where the situation is still very difficult.
He added that Russia is sending more troops with the aim of controlling the entire city. He continued, “Our armed forces have strengthened their positions and held on to the front line.”
In turn, Serhiy Haiday, governor of the Luhansk region, said today that Russia is deploying military reinforcements in the east of the country to help control the city of Severodonetsk.
Hayday stated that Russian forces were in control of the industrial suburbs of Severodonetsk. “The street war is still going strong, with varying degrees of success. The situation is constantly changing, but the Ukrainians are repelling the attacks,” he added.
According to Hayday, Ukrainian forces repelled a total of 10 Russian attacks in the past 24 hours.
Earlier in the day, British intelligence had said that the Russian army was isolating the Severdonetsk region from the north and south, adding that “the Russian army is making gains from the south of Severodonetsk.”
British intelligence also said that the Russian army is facing difficulties in the “Pupasna” axis, adding that “Russian bombing targets the vicinity of “Izyum” in an attempt to advance from the northern side.”
This comes while President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian forces are still holed up in their positions in Severodonetsk, and that fierce fighting continues in the city’s streets, while the Russian army continues to mobilize additional forces in the Donbass axis.
Zelensky also thanked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for standing by the Ukrainian people and his willingness to provide his country with appropriate weapons.
Zelensky had confirmed that his country’s situation would be difficult in the event of losing the Battle of Donbass. In an interview with the media, the Ukrainian president added that the situation in eastern Ukraine is dangerous, recognizing Russia’s progress in Donbass.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Yury Sak stressed on Monday that if Russian President Vladimir Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, all countries in the region are threatened. He also said in an interview with “Al Arabiya”, that Kyiv demanded Western weapons to respond to the Russian artillery.
For his part, the governor of Lugansk region confirmed that the Ukrainian forces had seriously retreated in the battle of Severodonetsk, while Moscow indicated that its military operations in eastern Ukraine would continue until the elements it described as Nazis on the Russian border were neutralized.
“We do not plan to attack Russian territory,” he said, adding, “We have many Russian targets to strike inside our territory.” He also said, “We suffer from a shortage of soldiers and heavy weapons,” referring to the Russian superiority in this.
