Russian forces also destroyed the last bridge leading to the Ukrainian eastern front city of Severodonetsk. Regional governor Serhiy Hayday, who made the statement, said that civilians were trapped in the region and it became impossible to deliver humanitarian aid.
Governor Serhiy Hayday stated that the Russians are trying to stop the advance of the industrial zone in the center of Donbas, while military access to the city of Severodonetsk, which has become an important battlefield for Ukraine, continues on a limited basis.
Hayday said, “Unfortunately, it is now impossible to enter the city and make shipments to the city. Evacuation is not possible.”
In a statement from the Telegram application, Hayday wrote that Russia could not take full control of the city and “part” of the city remained under Ukrainian control, but it was no longer possible to carry humanitarian aid to the city.
Hayday also told the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty that although 70 percent of the city is currently controlled by Russia, the situation of Ukrainian troops in the region is “difficult but under control”.
“There is still the capacity to send the wounded to hospitals, so there is military access to the city,” Hayday said. “It is difficult to dispatch weapons or resources, but it is not impossible.”
Street battles have been going on for weeks in Severodonetsk, where 100,000 people lived four months ago. Ukrainian officials say the number of people staying in the city after the conflict escalated is just over a tenth of the city’s population.
Ukrainian officials said hundreds of civilians had settled in the bunkers of the city’s Nitrogen chemical plant.
‘Living conditions of civilians are very difficult’
Hayday noted that the conditions for thousands of civilians who remained in the city were “very difficult” and there were “major” cuts in the supply of medicines, as the three-month war destroyed the natural gas, electricity and water infrastructure.
Russia calls the invasion of Ukraine a “special operation” to restore security and “de-Nazis” its neighbor. Ukraine and its Western allies call it a baseless excuse for an invasion that has killed thousands of civilians and sparked fears of wider conflict in Europe.
Troops call from Donetsk to Russia
Denis Pushilin, the leader of the separatists supported by Russia in the Donetsk region, said that clashes and shelling intensified in the region.
Pushilin called for all troops, including Russian soldiers, to participate in the fight against the enemy.
According to the Russian state news agency RIA, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitryi Peskov said that the main purpose of the special military operation is to protect the separatist republics in eastern Ukraine.
The RIA news agency reported that many civilians, including a child, died in the shelling today.
Reuters news agency announced that it could not confirm Russia’s claims that the fighting in the Donetsk region has intensified. Kyiv has not yet made a statement in the face of these developments.
Donetsk and Luhansk are two Russian-backed separatist regions located in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region that Russia says it is fighting to remove completely from Kiev’s control.
Just before the invasion, Russia declared that it recognized the independence of these two separatist regions. Separatists acquired territory in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Message from Zelenski to Scholz
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to give his full support to Kiev, in an interview with the German state broadcaster ZDF. Zelenski criticized the German Chancellor for being too concerned about Berlin-Moscow relations.
The interview took place at a time when there were rumors that Scholz might visit Kiev for the first time since the start of the war.
“We want Prime Minister Scholz to be clear about Germany’s support for Ukraine,” Zelenski said.
Finally, Focus magazine and Italian newspaper La Stampa reported that French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz will visit the capital of Ukraine on Thursday. Bild am Sonntag newspaper also stated in its news yesterday that the leaders would visit before the G7 summit at the end of June.
Germany has yet to confirm these news.
Kyiv and its western allies criticize these three countries for being unwilling to support Ukraine, accusing them of being slow in arms shipments and seeing their own well-being as more important than Ukraine’s freedom and security.
Scholz has so far left unanswered calls to visit Kiev, saying that he will only do so when he has news to announce.