The situation is getting worse in Sievjerodonetsk in eastern Ukraine. According to the authorities, Moscow's associations now want to conquer the center of the city. Thousands of civilians are said to remain in the city.
According to Ukrainian sources, Russian troops in the Donbass are advancing from the outskirts of the city towards the center of the city of Sieverodonetsk. The governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gajdaj, spoke of very fierce fighting with heavy shelling, in which two civilians were killed and five wounded. "Unfortunately, we have disappointing news, the enemy is moving into the city," Gajdaj said on state television. The city's water and gas supplies were cut off.
Sieverodonetsk is the largest city in the Luhansk region, which is still held by Ukraine. According to the governor, there had already been violent street fighting in Sievjerodonetsk on Sunday. The situation in the city is now "very difficult," Gajdaj said on Telegram. "Syeverodonetsk's important infrastructure has been destroyed, 60 percent of the apartments cannot be rebuilt." The road that connects Seyerodonetsk with the neighboring city of Lysychansk and Bakhmut further south is too "dangerous" to bring civilians to safety and relief supplies to the city.
Sieverodonetsk Mayor Olexander Stryuk sounded the alarm over the weekend about the humanitarian and sanitary situation in the city, which had a population of 100,000 before the war and is now home to an estimated 15,000 civilians. "Constant bombing raids" made the supply of drinking water more difficult.
In the past few days, the Russian armed forces in eastern Ukraine have been able to show repeated successes. For the Ukrainian troops, on the other hand, the situation is becoming increasingly difficult. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called taking Donbass an "unconditional priority" for his country and spoke of liberation. Russia recognizes the separatist Donbass regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Lavrov said, according to French broadcaster TF1. The other parts of Ukraine should decide their own future.
