Russian military has blown up a bridge connecting Ukraine’s Svyarodonetsk city to another city across the river, closing a possible evacuation route for civilians, local officials said on Sunday.
Svirodonetsk has become the center of the fight for control of the Donbass, the eastern region of Ukraine. Parts of the city have been crushed in the bloodiest fighting since the invasion of the Kremlin on 24 February.
Serhi Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, said on Sunday that Ukrainian and Russian forces were fighting street-to-street.
Russian forces have captured most of the city but Ukrainian troops control an industrial area and chemical plant where hundreds of civilians are taking refuge.
But the Russians had destroyed a bridge over the Siversky Donets River, which connected Svirodonetsk with its twin city of Lisichansk, Gaidai said.
This still bypasses one of the three bridges, and reduces the number of routes that can be used to evacuate civilians or for Ukrainian troops to return to positions on the western bank of the river. Is.
Gedai said that in Lisichansk itself, Russian shelling killed a woman and destroyed four homes and a shopping center.
The head of the Svirodonetsk administration said a little more than a third of the city remained under Ukrainian forces and about two-thirds was in Russian hands.
“Our (army) is holding the defensive line firmly,” Oleksandr Striuk told national TV.
across the river
After being forced to reduce its initial campaign goals following the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has turned its attention to increasing control in the Donbass, where pro-Russian separatists have occupied the area since 2014. Is.
Svyarodonetsk, the last city in the Luhansk province of the Donbass is still held by Ukraine And its loss would be a significant strategic blow. The victory for the Russians would put them a huge step closer to one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated goals, which he calls a “special military operation”.
Elsewhere, Russian cruise missiles destroyed a large depot containing US and European weapons in the Ternopil region of western Ukraine, Russia’s Interfax agency reported.
Ternopil’s governor said rockets fired from the Black Sea in the city of Chortkiv partially destroyed a military facility and injured 22 people. A local official said no weapon was kept there.
Reuters could not independently confirm the individual accounts.
Moscow has repeatedly criticized the United States and other countries for supplying weapons to Ukraine. Putin said earlier this month that Russia would strike new targets if the West supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles for use in high-precision mobile rocket systems.
Ukrainian leaders have urged Western nations in recent days to accelerate deliveries of heavy weapons as Russian artillery pounded into the country’s east.
According to the General Staff of Ukraine, to the south and southwest of Svyarodonetsk, Russian forces were firing mortars and artillery around several settlements. But it said Ukrainian forces had repelled Russian attempts to advance towards some communities.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield reports.
The Ukrainian military has proved more resilient than expected, but the US-based Institute for the Study of War said that since they use their last stock of Soviet-era weapons and munitions, they will need continued Western support.
Putin says Russia’s actions are aimed at disarmament and “rejection” of Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies call this an unprovoked war of aggression to capture the region.
Also on Sunday, the leader of the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk region in the Donbass said there was no reason to pardon two British nationals who were sentenced to death last week after being captured fighting for Ukraine.
A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic on Thursday found Aiden Aslin and Sean Piner – and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun – guilty of overthrowing the republic for “mercenary activities”.
Britain maintains that Aslin and Pinner were regular soldiers and should be exempted from prosecution for participating in hostilities under the Geneva Convention. The separatists say they have committed serious crimes and have a month to appeal.
“I do not see any grounds, prerequisites for coming up with such a decision on apology,” Russian news agencies quoted Denis Pushilin as saying.
Aslin’s family said that he and Pinner “are not mercenaries, and never were”.
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