Fierce fighting continues around Sievierodonetsk, eastern Ukraine

Ukrainian officials said on Saturday Russian forces were gradually being pushed back from Sievierodonetsk even though Moscow had reinforced its troops around the city.

A Ukrainian soldier walks past a part of a rocket near the front line in the city of Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, 02 June 2022, where heavy fighting took place in the last few days.

Photo: EPA/STR

Despite an attempt to cut off Ukraine's access to the industrial city, blowing up bridges across the Siverskyi Donets river, Russian forces have suffered severe defeats, Kiev said, according to a report by the Reuters news agency,

On Friday, Serhiy Gaidai, the head of the eastern region of Luhansk, announced that Ukrainian forces had recaptured around 20 percent of the territory they lost in Sievierodonetsk, eastern Ukraine, since Russia’s invasion.

On Saturday the official told national television that the Russian army was "throwing all its efforts, all its reserves in that (Sievierodonetsk) direction," Reuters reported.

The industrial city of Sievierodonetsk, largely devastated  by Russian bombardment, has been the focus of Moscow’s offensive to take the eastern Donbas region, comprising the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.

(ał)

Source: Reuters