The news was announced by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
In its daily operational update, posted on social media, Ukraine’s General Staff wrote: “In the Severodonetsk direction, the enemy, with the support of artillery, carried out assault operations in the city of Severodonetsk, had partial success, pushed our units away from the city centre, and hostilities continue.”
Kyiv’s top military officials added: “[The enemy] fired artillery at the positions of the Defence Forces in the areas of the settlements of Lysychansk, Severodonetsk, and Toshkivka.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Sunday night that Ukrainian defenders were fighting intensely for “every metre” of Severodonetsk, the Reuters news agency reported.
Russia controls 70 percent of Severodonetsk: officials
The governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk Oblast Serhiy Haidai said on Monday that Russians "now control about 70 percent of Severodonetsk,” as fierce fighting continued, according to Reuters.
Haidai added that "about 500 civilians remain on the grounds of the city's Azot chemical plant," including 40 children, Reuters reported.
Russian forces have also destroyed two of three bridges into the city, as they seek to cut off Severodonetsk entirely, according to news outlets.
Severodonetsk is the biggest city in Ukraine's easternmost Luhansk Oblast not yet entirely in Russian hands. It has been the main target of Russia’s attacks as the Kremlin attempts to make an advance in the eastern Donbas region.
Blockade of Black Sea
In other developments in the war, “the Russian aggressor is blocking civilian shipping in the northwestern part of the Black Sea,” Ukraine’s General Staff said.
It added: “Six Kalibr naval-based cruise missile carriers are ready to use missile weapons in the Black Sea.”
Monday is day 110 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, facebook.com./GeneralStaff.ua