Smoke rises in the city of Severodonetsk during heavy fightings between Ukrainian and Russian troops on Monday
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Russian forces are now in control of large parts of Severodonetsk, Kyiv admitted on Tuesday, as fighting rages in the key eastern Ukrainian city.
Thousands of residents remain trapped as Vladimir Putin’s troops slowly advance towards the city centre.
Taking the strategically important city has become a key aim for Russia as it seeks to claim control of the Donbas after failing to capture the capital Kyiv early on in the three month-long conflict.
Russian forces have launched waves of attacks on the city of 100,000 people in recent days. The bombardment has turned much of it into a bombed-out wasteland, prmipting some commentators to call it the “new Mariupol”.
Both sides say Russian forces now control between a third and half of the city. Russia’s separatist proxies acknowledged that capturing it was taking longer than hoped, despite one of the biggest ground assaults of the war.
Western military analysts say Moscow has drained manpower and firepower from across the rest of the front to concentrate on Severodonetsk, hoping a massive offensive on the small industrial city will deliver something Russia can call a victory.
“We can say already that a third of Severodonetsk is already under our control,” Russia’s TASS state news agency quoted Leonid Pasechnik, the leader of the pro-Moscow Luhansk People’s Republic, as saying.
Fighting was raging in the city, but Russian forces were not advancing as rapidly as might have been hoped, he said, claiming that pro-Moscow forces wanted to “maintain the city’s infrastructure” and were moving slowly because of caution around chemical factories.
The Ukrainian head of the city administration, Oleksandr Stryuk, said the Russians now controlled half of the city.
“Unfortunately ... the city has been split in half. But at the same time the city still defends itself. It is still Ukrainian,” he said, advising those still trapped inside to stay in cellars.
Ukraine says Russia has destroyed all of the city’s critical infrastructure with unrelenting bombardment, followed by wave after wave of mass ground assault involving huge numbers of casualties.
Regional governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian television there did not appear to be a risk of Ukrainian forces still holding out in the city centre being encircled, though they could ultimately be forced to retreat across the Siverskiy Donets river to Lysychansk, the twin city on the opposite bank.
Mr Stryuk said evacuating civilians was no longer possible. Authorities cancelled efforts to evacuate residents after an attack on Monday that killed a French journalist.
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid agency which had long operated out of Severodonetsk, said he was “horrified” by its destruction.
“We fear that up to 12,000 civilians remain caught in crossfire in the city, without sufficient access to water, food, medicine or electricity. The near-constant bombardment is forcing civilians to seek refuge in bomb shelters and basements, with only few precious opportunities for those trying to escape.”
