Russian troops are moving to the city of Severodonetsk from the outskirts, Luhansk Oblast Governor Sergei Gaidai said on Monday.
Severodonetsk, the largest city still partially controlled by Kyiv in the Luhansk region of Donbass, is at the center of Russia’s attacks in eastern Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, we have disappointing news – the enemy is moving towards the city,” Gaidai told national television.
He said the neighboring city of Lisichansk was still under Ukrainian control, while the main road to the two cities was shelled but not blocked.
“They use the same tactics over and over again. They fired for several hours – three, four, five hours – in a row and then attacked. Those who attack die. “Then there is shelling and attack again, and so on, until they break through somewhere,” Gaidai said.
Severodonetsk Mayor Alexander Struck told the Associated Press in a telephone interview Monday that “Russian troops have entered the city and street fighting is taking place.” He added that Ukrainian defenders are struggling to drive out the Russians.
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Struck added that “Russian troops have advanced several blocks to the city center.”
He said “we have no electricity and no communications. The city is completely destroyed.”
The mayor said 12,000 to 13,000 civilians left in the city were sheltering in basements and bunkers to escape the relentless Russian bombing. He said “the death toll is rising every hour, but we cannot count the dead and wounded in the street fighting.”
Struck said last week that 1,500 city residents had died since the invasion.
Russia reports strike in another port city
After failing to take the capital Kyiv in the early stages of the war, Russia is seeking to consolidate its control over Donbass, much of which is already controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
Unlike previous stages of the war, which Moscow called a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine and liberate it from nationalists threatening Russian-speakers there, Russia has focused its firepower on a small area.
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Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that its forces had struck a shipyard in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikolaev. Russian artillery struck a hangar at the Oceanov shipyard in Nikolaev, destroying vehicles and other equipment, the ministry said.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the report.
EU leaders discuss oil sanctions, funding Ukraine
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Monday will address European Union leaders gathering in a new demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine amid divisions over whether to target Russian oil in a new series of sanctions. He has repeatedly urged the EU to focus on Russia’s lucrative energy sector and deprive Moscow of billions of dollars every day in payments for supplies.
According to a new draft of the summit’s conclusions, the 27 leaders must agree that their next round of sanctions will cover temporary-release crude oil for crude oil delivered through a pipeline, a compromise the ambassadors failed to agree on Sunday. .
Protesters demand an embargo on Russian oil during a protest in front of European Union buildings in Brussels on Monday, ahead of a special meeting of EU leaders to discuss Ukraine’s energy and food security. (Olivier Mathis / Reuters)
The text, seen by Reuters, which can still be revised, will confirm an agreement on sanctions for offshore oil, with oil pipelines delivered to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic landlocked will be sanctioned at some point.
However, the leaders gathering in Brussels in the afternoon will not finalize the conditions for this temporary exemption, the text said.
Instead, they will ask diplomats and ministers to find a solution that also ensures fair competition between those who still receive Russian oil and those who are cut off.
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EU leaders will declare continued support for Ukraine to help repel Russia’s attack, and discuss how to deal with the effects of the conflict, especially the jump in energy prices and the impending food crisis.
However, the talks will be overshadowed by their long-running struggle for an agreement on a sixth round of sanctions against Moscow, in particular those detained by Hungary.
Russia’s oil embargo is holding back other sanctions
Other elements of the latest package of sanctions include cutting off Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT messaging system, banning Russian EU broadcasters and adding more people to a list whose assets have been frozen.
The most tangible will be the political support of the leaders for a package of 9 billion euros (12.3 billion Cdn) of EU loans, with a small component of the grant to cover part of the interest, so that Ukraine can support its government and to pay salaries for about two months.
People fleeing Lisichansk and other areas are sitting in an evacuation train at a station in Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, on Saturday. Fighting is taking place around Lisichansk and neighboring Severodonetsk, the last major Ukrainian-controlled cities in Luhansk. (Francisco Seco / Associated Press)
But even there, the decision will be made later, after the European Commission made a proposal on how to raise the money.
The draft conclusions of the summit show that EU leaders will support the establishment of an international fund for post-war reconstruction in Ukraine, without details, and want to explore the possibility of confiscating frozen Russian assets for this purpose.
But careful wording is deliberate because the issue is difficult from a legal point of view, officials said.
The project showed that leaders are ready to explore ways to curb rising energy prices, including the feasibility of introducing temporary price ceilings, cutting red tape on renewables and investing in connecting national energy networks across borders, to help each other better.
Leaders will pledge to step up work to help Ukraine move its grain from the country to global buyers by rail and truck – as Russia’s navy blocks normal sea lanes – and take steps to speed up independence from Russian energy. .
Ukraine has accused Russia of plundering grain from territories owned by its forces, and the United States claims that Moscow is threatening global food supplies by preventing Ukraine from exporting its crops.
In the Kherson region, Russia’s appointed deputy head of the regional administration, Kirill Stremusov, told Russia’s Tass news agency that grain from last year’s harvest was being delivered to Russian buyers, adding that “obviously there is a lot of grain here. “
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