Russian troops have driven the Ukrainian army out of the center of Severodonetsk, a key city in eastern Ukraine over which the two armies have been fighting for weeks, Ukraine’s general staff said on Monday.
“With artillery support, the enemy stormed Severodonetsk, achieved partial success and pushed our units back from the city center. Hostilities continue,” the army said in its morning update posted on Facebook.
Sergei Gaidai, governor of the Lugansk region – of which Severodonetsk is the administrative center for the part controlled by the Ukrainian authorities – confirmed that Ukrainian forces were being pushed back from the city centre.
“The street fighting continues (…) the Russians continue to destroy the city,” he wrote on Facebook on Monday morning, posting photos of buildings in ruins or on fire.
Russian shelling targeted the Azot chemical plant, where civilians are sheltering, and hit sewage treatment plants in the city, he added.
In the nearby city of Lysychansk, three civilians, including a six-year-old boy, have been killed by shelling in the past 24 hours, according to the governor.
Taking Severodonetsk would open Moscow’s route to another major Donbass city, Kramatorsk, a key step in conquering the entire Russian border region, which has been partially held by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.