Ukrainian commander: The battle of Sheverodonetsk is being waged door-to-door

The battle for Sheverodonetsk is being waged door-to-door as Ukrainian fighters look forward to the delivery of heavy weapons that could “turn the tide”, a Ukrainian commander said today.

Petros Kuzik, commander of the Sloboda (Freedom) National Guard battalion, said street battles in the small industrial town in eastern Ukraine were raging against Russian artillery barricades that endangered military forces on both sides.

Reuters has not been able to verify the situation on the ground in what has become a pivotal battle in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Moscow did not comment on Kuzik’s remarks and stressed that Ukraine was suffering significant losses in the Donbas region, where Sheverodonetsk is located.

“We are fighting for every house and every street,” Kuzik told state television, describing battles in which Ukrainian fighters went from “blind defense to small counterattacks in some areas.”

“Yesterday was a success for us. We counterattacked and in some areas we managed to repel them by one or two blocks. In other areas we fought and pushed them out literally by one or two houses.”

He said Ukraine hoped Russian forces would reduce the intensity of artillery fire when street fighting began.

“When we took them to street fights, it worked for a while – they (their artillery) did not know where we were and where we were. But now they are just covering both their own troops and our units with artillery fire,” he said.

Kuzik said Ukrainian forces had a “catastrophic” lack of systems to deal with Russian artillery and needed “serious technology” or heavy weapons to retaliate against the Russians.

Appearing to rule out a withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Lisichansk, the “twin city” of Sheverodonetsk on the opposite bank of the Siversky Donetsk River, Kuzik said: “There is an order to hold positions and we are holding them.”