Ukraine may withdraw its military “to more fortified positions” in Severodonetsk, a regional leader suggested on Wednesday, while insisting that Ukraine would not “give up” on the key city.
“Intense battles are taking place in Severodonetsk,” Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, told national television on Wednesday morning. “Our defenders are fighting for every inch of the city.”
“No one will give up on the city, even if our military has to retreat to more fortified positions, as the city is constantly being bombed. Still, that would not mean the city is abandoned,” he added.
A leader of Russia’s so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, Rodion Miroshnik, said on Wednesday that Ukraine has control “over only a small part” of the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk. Hayday said last week that about 800 civilians are sheltering in that facility.
“Ukrainian militants are shooting indiscriminately in the neighborhoods close to the development,” Miroshnik said on Telegram. “Snipers are working. The circle of allied troops around the remaining group narrows.”
Miroshnik also claimed that Severodonetsk airport “had already been cleared of Ukrainian formations”.
“The bombing that was carried out from there stopped. The remaining militants [referindo-se às forças ucranianas] are hidden in forest plantations around the airport. Allied forces are looking for them and cleaning up,” he added.
Hayday, the Ukrainian official, said Russia had devoted huge resources to trying to cut the main road linking Severodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk to Bakhmut, further west.
“The Russian army’s strategic objective is to control the Bakhmut-Lysychansk route,” he said. “And by controlling, I mean putting your checkpoints there and keeping them under your control. From now on they are bombing the route but not controlling it.”
He said Ukraine no longer uses that road, as anyone driving there has a “90% chance” of being bombed. “We have other routes to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate people,” he said.
Ukraine says it expects Russia’s offensive in Lysychansk and Severodonetsk to “increase several times,” he said. “We expect intense battles.”
However, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Wednesday morning that: “Our soldiers are successfully holding off the attack on the city of Severodonetsk, and hostilities continue.”
“Lysychansk is being bombed very hard,” Hayday said late on Tuesday. “They purposely shoot at humanitarian centers, at schools [onde as pessoas estão abrigadas]. Destroying the entire infrastructure completely.”
“Yes, it is very difficult to maintain Severodonetsk,” he admitted. “Yes, they just destroy the city completely. But they don’t control the city.”
He said “intense battles” also continue to take place in other cities in the Luhansk region, such as Zolote to the south.
“Settlements are bombed, just completely wiped off the face of the Earth,” Hayday said. “But the enemy cannot pass through them yet.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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