Russian forces have entered Kremina, a city in the eastern Luhansk region that has been bombed for weeks as Russian forces push west into Donbass, a senior Ukrainian official said.
“The Russians entered Kremina. Street fighting has begun, “Sergei Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, said in a brief Facebook post early Monday.
The Russians entered the city with “a huge amount of equipment,” he said.
The offensive has begun, “he said.
The Russians are trying to put up Ukrainian resistance in Kremina and a number of cities in Luhansk as they try to advance to the borders of Luhansk and Donetsk regions – the stated goal of President Vladimir Putin’s “special military mission.”
Evacuation was now impossible, Haidai said.
“We planned the evacuation, literally on forest paths, so that people would not come under fire. But overnight the situation changed. While fighting [has broken out] it is unrealistic in the city to count the civilians who remain there, “Haidai said.
Haidai said Olympus’ sports facility in Kremina was “burning” and that the fire now covered 2,400 square meters.
“Rescuers are working hard because there is a forest near the center,” he said.
Haidai said elsewhere in the region, two people were killed and four wounded in Zolote, and seven people were pulled from the rubble of a destroyed building in Rubezhne.
On Sunday night, Russian forces fired on a police building in Lisichansk, Haidai said, injuring six police officers.
The shelling continues, he said.
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