Russian forces are bombarding Ukrainian positions in the symbolic eastern city of Sievierodonetsk with intense artillery barrages, airstrikes and non-stop street-by-street fighting, according to the governor of Luhansk province.
After a Ukrainian counterattack over the weekend, Russian soldiers were seeking to regain the initiative. They were trying to move forward to dislodge Ukrainian fighters from their last stronghold in an industrial zone. Between 10,000 and 11,000 civilians remain in the city.
The regional governor, Serhiy Haidai said tough street battles were continuing with varying degrees of success. “The situation constantly changes, but the Ukrainians are repelling attacks,” he said.
The neighbouring city of Lysychansk, a few kilometres south of Sievierodonetsk, was being “totally destroyed”, he added. “Russian shelling has intensified significantly over the past 24 hours. They are using scorched-earth tactics,” he said, adding that a school and market had been hit, and a college building flattened.
The Kremlin is keen to declare victory in Sievierodonetsk, which would give it full control of Luhansk province. When Vladimir Putin began his invasion on 24 February, he pledged to “liberate” the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts not already in separatist hands.
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, on Tuesday said 97% of the latter region was under Kremlin control. He said his troops were pushing forward from Popasna, 30km south of Sievierodonetsk. They had taken control of Lyman, Sviatohirsk and 15 other towns, he said.
Nevertheless, Moscow is making slow progress overall. Seven weeks after beginning a full-scale military operation in Donbas, it has been unable to capture the key cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, or to encircle Ukraine’s eastern army, as it had hoped.
In its latest intelligence briefing, the Ministry of Defence said Russia’s advance from Popasna had “stalled over the last week” and that it was preparing to move towards the city of Izium to the north-west. So far, though, it had not achieved a breakthrough or been able “to translate tactical gains to operational level success”, the ministry said.
With neither side prevailing on the battlefield, there seems little prospect of negotiations. Most observers in Kyiv now expect the war to continue through the summer until at least the end of the year.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, said he “simply cannot see the preconditions for ending the war”. Victory meant restoring “all” of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea – annexed by Russia in 2014 – and separatist-held areas, he suggested.
The president had harsh words for his French counterpart. On Saturday, Emmanuel Macron said “we are not going to humiliate Russia” – remarks seen in Kyiv as meaning Ukraine would have to accept the further loss of sovereign territory in exchange for a peace deal with Moscow.
“Some people want to be leaders. In order to be a leader, you do not need to consider yourself one, but to behave as a leader,” Zelenskiy said. He added: “How can we achieve a ceasefire in the territory of Ukraine without listening to the position of [this] country, and without listening to [the] position of the leader of this country? This is very, very surprising.
“We are not going to humiliate anyone,” Zelenskiy told the newspaper. “We are going to respond in kind.”
On other frontlines, Russia continued to shell civilian areas. Two people were killed and three wounded in an attack on the Mykolaiv region, which borders Russian-occupied Kherson. The city is hit on a daily basis. Russian fire damaged administrative buildings, a stadium and a school.
Ukrainian troops have made some gains in recent weeks on this southern frontline. It appeared on Tuesday that Russia was withdrawing some of its forces from the city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region and sending them to Kherson. The city – seized in February – is now completely cut off, with residents who have fled unable to contact relatives still living there.
After a short pause, Russia is again bombarding Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, in the north-east. One person was killed and three injured in the latest Russian strike, its mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said. Moscow “does not leave Kharkiv alone and constantly keeps people in fear”, he added. Nearby villages recaptured by Ukraine last month are now under constant fire.
Ukraine’s general staff reported on Tuesday that Russia continued to suffer significant losses of equipment. This included 1,390 tanks, 3,416 armoured vehicles, 694 artillery pieces, 207 multiple-launch rocket systems, 125 surface-to-air missiles, 177 helicopters, 212 airplanes, 553 drones and 13 naval vessels, it said.
