Ukraine announced on Saturday (4) that it is forcing Russian troops to retreat in Sievierodonetsk, with intense fighting in the city, the focus of Russia’s offensive to capture the Donbass region. Watch the key moments of the war in the video above Ukraine.
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Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, said Russian forces had suffered multiple defeats and blew up bridges on the Siverskyi Donets river to prevent Ukraine from bringing reinforcements and helping civilians in Sievierodonetsk.
“Right now our soldiers have pushed them back, they (the Russians) are suffering heavy casualties,” Gaidai said.
The governor claimed that Ukrainian forces had regained about a fifth of the territory they had lost in the city.
Both teams suffered heavy casualties in clashes in the Sovietera industrial city, whose streets are littered with craters and wrecked cars.
Sievierodonetsk, neighboring Lysychansk, would be the last city Russia must capture in order to gain full control of Luhansk, which forms the Donbass alongside Donetsk province. The region has become a flashpoint for Russia, with President Vladimir Putin trying to recover after failing to take Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
The Ukrainian army said on Saturday Russia used artillery to conduct strike operations in Sievierodonetsk, but Russian forces had withdrawn and Ukrainian troops maintained positions in the city.
The UK Ministry of Defense said Russian air activity in Donbass remained high, with Russian planes conducting guided and unguided munitions strikes.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane carrying weapons and ammunition near the Black Sea port of Odessa.
Tens of thousands have died, millions have been displaced from their homes and the world economy has been crippled by a war that marked its 100th day on Friday.
Ukraine said on Saturday there was no point in negotiating with Russia until Moscow forces were pushed as far as possible towards Ukraine’s borders.
Ukrainian officials are counting on advanced missile systems recently pledged by the US and UK to gain the upper hand in the war, and Ukrainian soldiers have already begun training with them.
Moscow has said Western weapons would “set gasoline on fire” but won’t change the course of what it calls a special operation to rid Ukraine of dangerous nationalists.
Ukraine is one of the world’s top sources of grain and cooking oil, but its supplies have been largely disrupted by the closure of Black Sea ports with more than 20 million tons of grain stored.