According to sources in Kyiv, the Russian troops "ensconced themselves" in the storming of the industrial city in the center. A nitric acid tank was also hit during the ongoing attacks. The indiscriminate airstrikes on a city with a large chemical production are just crazy, Zelenskyj said.
According to Ukrainian information, the Russian military has established itself in the city center when it stormed the administrative center of Sievjerodonetsk. "The aggressor carried out attacks in the northern, southern and eastern urban areas of Sieverodonetsk, had success with individual units and is now nesting in the city centre," the Ukrainian general staff said in its morning situation report.
Apparently the Russians hit a nitric acid tank in the embattled industrial city. Regional governor Serhiy Gajdaj called on the population on Tuesday evening to "have face masks soaked in soda solution ready" to protect themselves against toxic fumes. "Considering the fact that there is a large-scale chemical production facility in Seyerodonetsk, the Russian army's indiscriminate airstrikes in this city are just insane," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message.
West of the city, in the Bakhmut area, the Russians tried to push the Ukrainian defenders out of their positions at Bilohorivka and Vrubivka. There were also attacks at Komyshuvahka, Berestove and Nyrkove. All of these towns are located in the western rear area of Sievjerodonetsk. The Russian attacks are probably aimed at preventing the Ukrainians from an orderly retreat from the former city. Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Malyar said that the current offensive in the east should encircle the Ukrainian troops in order to "blackmail" Kyiv with the "encircled" soldiers. "So far they haven't made it because the Ukrainian army is resisting with great force," Malyar said on YouTube. However, she acknowledged that the Russian armed forces had "a quantitative advantage in equipment, weapons and men".
Sievjerodonetsk has been the administrative center of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine since 2014. In addition, the General Staff also reported further Russian attempts to advance in the direction of Sloviansk. Before the war, the metropolitan area around Slowjansk and Kramatorsk comprised around half a million people. It is the operations center of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Donbass region.
From the small town of Lyman, Russian forces with the support of modern Ka-52 attack helicopters advanced in the direction of Sloviansk, and the fighting continued. Further attacks from the direction of Izyum - northwest of Slowjansk - were repelled near the village of Dovgenke, it said. There, the Russian units were forced to partially retreat after high losses. According to Ukrainian information, nine Russian attacks in the Donbass were repelled and more than 20 military vehicles disabled in the course of the previous day. This information cannot be verified independently.
