The fertilizer factory Azot has been hit by Russian bombs, writes BBC.
Tens of thousands of tonnes of oil have leaked and caused a major fire.
800 civilians are hiding in the underground tunnels, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Kemfabriken Azot is one of Ukraine’s last outposts in the besieged city of Sevierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.
But now the plant is on fire.
On Saturday, several oil depots of Russian artillery were hit, after which the fire spread over the area, according to Mayor Serhij Hajdaj.
Around 800 civilians are said to have sought refuge in the underground shelters and the situation was compared with the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, where around 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers hid before they were forced to surrender.
“There is a fear that Sievjerodonetsk has got its own Azov speech. “About 800 people are hiding in Soviet-era shelters under the chemical plant in the city,” Ukrainian Kira Rudik wrote on Twitter.
Decisive for Donbass’s fate
The fighting in Sevierodonetsk could be crucial to the fate of the entire Donbass, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. At the same time, Russia is taking more and more ground.
Mayor Serhij Hajdaj says the situation is “difficult but under control”.
– Our soldiers win in the street battles, but unfortunately the enemy’s artillery dismantles our houses floor by floor. The same house that our troops use as shelters, he says and continues:
– So when we push the enemy back from a street, they start using their tanks and their artillery to destroy the area house by house.
“Falls within weeks”
Sevierodonetsk and Lysytyansk are Ukraine’s last two strongholds in the Luhansk region, and the heavy losses mean that Russia may soon have full control, according to a high-ranking US defense source.
“Both cities will probably fall to the Russian forces within a few weeks,” the source said Washington Post.