In the direction of the city of Bakhmut, there are Russian attacks “to improve the tactical situation”, the Ukrainian general staff announced on Facebook on Thursday. The cities of Wessele, Soledar, Berestowe and Vowchojarivka were under artillery fire.
There is also heavy fighting in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk. The Russians are also trying to attack towards Sloviansk. In the neighboring Luhansk region, the city of Severodonetsk was particularly disputed. Part of the industrial city is still under Ukrainian control. There were also artillery bombardments on sections of the front in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
Civilians are trapped
According to Ukrainian sources, there are still thousands of civilians in Severodonetsk. “Of the 100,000 inhabitants, about 10,000 are still there, not counting the victims,” the governor of the Donbass sub-region in Luhansk, Serhiy Hajday, said on Thursday. The Ukrainian army is “holding back the enemy as best it can”. The Russian army is losing “hundreds of fighters” there, but it is always bringing in new supplies. They “continue the destruction of Sieverodonetsk”. It is the last major city in the Luhansk region that Russia has yet to conquer.
Finally, Russian troops appeared on the verge of taking full control of the city. They destroyed three bridges to Lysychansk, leaving the remaining Ukrainian troops largely isolated.
Rocket fire in Sumi
In the northeast of the city of Sumi, according to local governor Dmytro Schywyzkii, four people were killed by Russian rockets overnight. Six other people were injured. The Dobropillia district on the Russian border was also bombed.
missing american
Meanwhile, two Americans who traveled to Ukraine as volunteer fighters are missing. According to relatives and US lawmakers on Wednesday (local time), the two men from the US state of Alabama could have been captured by Russia. Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Huynh fought as volunteers for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and were recently involved in battles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
four month war
Ukraine has already defended itself from the war of aggression launched by Russia almost four months ago. The United Nations has so far recorded more than 4,400 civilian deaths, but – like Kyiv – assumes the number of civilian casualties is much higher.