Kyiv commands forces to withdraw from Severodonetsk
Ukrainian forces have been ordered to withdraw from Severodonetsk, according to top regional officials.
The eastern city has endured weeks of bombing, while Russian forces are trying to take full control of the region.
A Ukrainian withdrawal would be significant because it would leave all of Luhansk under Russian control, except for the city of Lysychansk.
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Luhansk, a predominantly Russian-speaking region in eastern Ukraine, is a key priority for President Vladimir Putin.
Together with the Donetsk region, it forms what is collectively known as the Donbas – a large, industrial area that has been the focus of a Russian-backed separatist movement since 2014.
Russia’s president has falsely claimed that Russian speakers in the Donbas were victims of genocide – a key justification for his invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine, in turn, accuses Moscow of committing genocide against the Ukrainian people with its indiscriminate bombing and shelling.
Meanwhile, Russia said the decision by EU leaders to accept Ukraine and Moldova as membership candidates would have negative consequences.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said the EU was sacrificing its democratic ideals at the expense of “uncontrolled enlargement and the political and economic enslavement of its neighbors”.
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Most buildings are badly damaged
Severodonetsk has been the target of intense Russian shelling for several weeks and more recently experienced heavy street fighting, with Ukrainian forces gradually being pushed back to the city’s industrial zones.
All bridges to the city were destroyed by Russian troops as they tried to cut them off from the Ukrainian-controlled territory. Ukraine’s withdrawal could be a last-ditch effort to prevent it from being surrounded on all sides.
“Staying in positions that have been relentlessly shelled out for months just does not make sense,” Serhiy Haidai, Luhansk regional chief, told Ukrainian television.
“They [Ukrainian forces] have received orders to retreat to new positions … and from there continue their operations.”
The city’s entire infrastructure was completely destroyed, he added, with more than 90% of the homes being shelled and 80% of them critically damaged.
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Roman Vlasenko, head of the Severodonetsk district, said Ukrainian troops were still in the city and told Radio Liberty on Friday that a withdrawal could take some time.
Hundreds of civilians are suspected of living in Severodonetsk, many seeking refuge in the sprawling Azot chemical plant. Before the war, it had a population of about 100,000 people.
Russian forces have made progress in recent days in the areas around Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, with Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense describing the settlements south and southeast of the cities as the “hottest sector of the front”.
But Mr Haidai said it would be “very difficult” for the Russians to seize Lysychansk because the city, which is on a hill, had “many defensive positions”.
Aid can still be delivered to the city and civilians are still being evacuated, he said.
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Ukrainian forces around the villages of Zolote and Hirske have already been completely surrounded, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
In a separate development Friday, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied southern city of Kherson died in a car explosion, Russian news agencies reported.
Ukraine, whose forces have made progress in the region, did not comment on the issue.
Several Kremlin-installed officials were recently targeted in the Kherson region, over which Moscow may have a land corridor from Russia to Crimea – Ukraine’s southern peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
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Kyiv commands forces to withdraw from Severodonetsk
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
[…] Kyiv commands forces to withdraw from Severodonetsk: Report 25Jun 2022 […]