Kyiv (Kyiv)/Moscow. Both sides reported successes in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Sieverodonetsk. Russia is throwing all its weight into the battle for the city, Luhansk region governor Serhiy Hajday said on Saturday. However, Ukrainian forces “are now pushing them back”. Moscow, on the other hand, said Ukrainian units were withdrawing from the city. Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia delivered the bodies of 160 soldiers to the other side. According to Ukrainian information, negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war are still ongoing on both sides.
However, Ukraine is currently not ready for talks about the war as such. According to sources in Kyiv, negotiations will only take place after gaining ground with Russia. “Until we strengthen our position and Russian troops are not pushed back as far as possible, negotiations are meaningless,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said on Saturday on television when asked about a mediation offer. . of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Azot Chemical Factory in Svievyerodonetsk, Ukraine. The Ukrainian oligarch who lives in Vienna, Dmytro Firtash, owns the Svievyerodonetsk factory, in whose bunkers would be 800 civilians, including 200 workers.
– © APA/GROUPPDF
Ukrainian negotiator David Arachamia was similar: “Our army is ready to use the new weapons and then we can start a new round of negotiations from a strengthened position.” The Ukrainian-Russian talks so far have all been fruitless.
According to Ukrainian sources, Russia has reinforced its troops around the industrial city of Sievjerodonetsk. Artillery was used in the attacks on the strategically important city, he said. However, the Russian soldiers’ attempt to advance into neighboring Bakhmut and isolate Sievjerodonetsk failed. The Russian units then withdrew.
On Friday night, the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, declared that parts of Sievjerodonetsk had been recaptured. About a fifth of the city’s territory lost to the Russian army is back under Ukrainian control. The information cannot be independently verified.
According to the governor, Russian soldiers blew up bridges in Sieverodonetsk. This is to prevent military equipment and aid for civilians from being brought into the city, Governor Gaidai said on television. Ukrainian units continued to hold their positions in the city and repelled Russian soldiers in several places, says Gaidai. The industrial city of Sievjerodonetsk is located on Siverskji Donets, across the river is its twin city Lysychansk.
800 civilians in chemical plant
Faced with the dramatic situation in Sieverodonetsk, Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who lives in Vienna, warned against repeating a scenario like that of Mariupol. Firtash’s holding company GroupDF owns the Svievyerodonetsk Azot chemical plant, whose bunkers house 800 civilians, including 200 workers. Russia must unconditionally stop the ongoing attack, the Ukrainian demanded on Saturday, according to a broadcast.
Despite the intensified attack by Russian troops, 200 employees remained at the nitrogen plant to professionally protect and protect the remains of “highly explosive chemicals” stored there as best they could, the broadcast said. However, much of the nitrogen stored at the plant was evacuated from the conflict area in a timely manner.
According to British military intelligence, the Russian military is maintaining high levels of artillery and air strikes in eastern Ukraine. “The increased use of unguided munitions has resulted in widespread destruction of built-up areas in Donbass and has almost certainly caused significant collateral damage and civilian casualties,” the Defense Ministry said on Twitter, citing the regular intelligence report. Russia has increased its tactical air strikes to support the slow advance. Fighter planes and artillery would be used.
The attacks continued in the south
The Russian military also continued its attacks in southern Ukraine. A rocket hit a farming camp in the Odessa region on Saturday morning, a regional government spokesman wrote on Twitter. Two people were injured.
In addition, two people were killed in an attack in the northeast Kharkiv region on Friday. Two others were injured when a civilian target was targeted by the Russian side, Ukrainian news agency Interfax reported, citing rescue workers.
The Russian army controls about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory. About half of them – like the annexed Crimea peninsula – came under the control of Russia or separatists in eastern Donbass, which it supports as early as 2014. Russian soldiers have occupied the rest of the territory since the start of their invasion in 2014. of February.
For some time now, Russia has focused its offensive in the east of the neighboring country. Your troops advance slowly but steadily. However, they have so far failed to fully capture the two regions of Luhansk and Donetsk that make up Donbass. If the Russian military captures Sieverodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk across the Seversky Donets River, they would have complete control of the Luhansk region. Russian President Vladimir Putin would have achieved an important goal.
Objective: Donbass-Crimea connection
Russian troops have already taken territory in southern Ukraine. They control the largely destroyed port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea by the Kerch Strait, and they want to connect Crimea to the Donbass via a land bridge. Crimea lies between the northern Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
The Ukrainian presidential administration predicts that the Russian war of aggression could last up to six months. “It could take another two to six months,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said in an interview with Russian opposition portal Medusa on Friday night. In the end, it depends on how the climate in the societies of Europe, Ukraine and Russia changes.
There will only be negotiations when the situation on the battlefield changes and Russia no longer feels it can dictate the terms, Podoljak said. He once again warned against territorial concessions to Russia. This will not end the war.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate end to the violence after Russia’s 100-day war of aggression against Ukraine. In a statement on Friday (local time), he also stressed that a solution to the conflict would require negotiations and dialogue. The United Nations would support any such effort. Guterres also called for unrestricted access for aid workers to all those in need.
Russia describes its actions in Ukraine as a special military operation to protect the Russian-speaking population. Ukraine and Western countries, on the other hand, speak of a war of unprovoked aggression. (apa)