The defense of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk, which is almost completely surrounded, seems increasingly hopeless. Even the region's governor has to admit it: the Russian army is "quite simply destroying the city," he complains.
According to the authorities, the situation for the residents of the embattled city of Sievjerodonetsk in Donbass in eastern Ukraine is becoming increasingly hopeless. "Russia is using all means to conquer Sievjerodonetsk or to prevent communication in the region and in Ukraine," said the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaiday, in the messenger service Telegram in the evening. "The coming week will be very difficult," he added. However, the Russian troops are not able to implement all their plans in the near future.
The mayor of Sievjerodonetsk, Olexander Stryuk, also referred to Telegram on the "many means" that the Russian army was using to take the city. "But they can't do that yet," he said with conviction. "We believe the city will hold up." He expressed concern about the sanitary situation in the city, which had a population of 100,000 before the war.
"Constant bombing raids" would complicate the supply of drinking water in particular. There has been no electricity in the city for more than two weeks, Stryuk explained in the evening. The city's "humanitarian aid center" has ceased operations, he added.
Gajdaj had previously declared that the Russian army "is simply destroying the city". They entered the outskirts of the city, where they suffered "heavy casualties" while Ukrainian troops tried to drive the Russians out of a hotel.
He was referring to a police representative from the pro-Russian separatist region of Luhansk, who, according to the Ria Novosti news agency, said on Friday that Sieverodonetskei was "currently surrounded". The ruler of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said on Telegram in the evening that "Syeverodonetsk is completely under our control". "The city has been liberated," declared Kadyrov.
