- Heavy shelling in Luhansk and Donetsk regions
- Residents remain in the basements of the destroyed Lisichansk
- Russians plunder Lisichansk, Severodonetsk, says Ukraine
- Moscow has declared Ukraine a “terrorist state”
KYIV/SLOVIANSK, Ukraine, July 6 (Reuters) – Ukrainian defenders were fighting desperately to hold off a major Russian offensive in the Donetsk region, with the enemy bringing heavy artillery fire to pave the way for ground forces to advance, a senior Ukrainian official said employee on Wednesday.
After Russian forces took control of Lisichansk, the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk, on Sunday, the Ukrainian army prepared for an assault on Donetsk, with the cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk in the Russian line of fire.
Donetsk and Luhansk encompass Donbass, the industrialized eastern part of Ukraine that has seen Europe’s worst fighting for generations.
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There was heavy fighting on the edge of Luhansk Oblast, its governor, Serhii Gaidai, told Ukrainian television, saying Russian regular army and reserve forces had been sent there in an apparent effort to cross the Siverskyi Donets River.
“We are detaining the enemy on the border of Luhansk Oblast and Donetsk Oblast,” Gaidai wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.
“The occupiers are suffering significant losses, as they themselves admit,” Gaidai said, citing testimony from Russian prisoners of war and residents who spoke with Russian soldiers in the fallen cities of Severoronetsk and Lisichansk.
Reuters was unable to independently verify his comments.
Earlier, Gaidai said Russian forces engaged in widespread shelling as they launched their assault on Donetsk.
Russia claims it wants to wrest control of all of Donbas from Ukraine on behalf of Moscow-backed separatists in two self-proclaimed people’s republics.
On Tuesday, Russian forces struck a market and residential area in Slavyansk, killing at least two people and wounding seven, local officials said.
A Reuters reporter at the scene saw yellow smoke billowing from an auto parts store and flames engulfing rows of market stalls as firefighters tried to put out the blaze.
Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kirilenko said Slavyansk and nearby Kramatorsk came under heavy shelling overnight. “There is no safe place without shelling in Donetsk region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, calling it a “special military operation” to demilitarize the country, root out nationalists and protect Russian-speakers.
Kyiv and the West say Russia is waging an unprovoked, imperial-style land grab in its neighboring former Soviet republic and accuse the invaders of war crimes, which Moscow denies.
RUINED CITY
Lisichansk, once a city of 100,000 people, lies in ruins. Buildings are scorched and riddled with shells, cars are upside down, and the streets are strewn with rubble, a testament to the ferocity of the battle it endured.
Tatyana Glushenko, a 45-year-old resident of Lisichansk, told Reuters there were people still hiding in basements and bomb shelters, including children and the elderly.
Firefighters spray water on a market fire after shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Slavyansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, July 5, 2022. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
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Glushenko said he did not think he would be safe in other parts of Ukraine, so he stayed in Lisychansk with his family.
“All of Ukraine is shelled: Western Ukraine, Central Ukraine, Dnieper, Kyiv, everywhere. So we decided not to risk our lives and stay here, at least at home,” she added.
Now Glushenko hopes that peace will return to her ruined town, but for elderly residents Sergey and Evgenia, the prospect of rebuilding from the ruins is terrifying.
“We have to get out of here somehow,” Sergey said, sitting in a dark shelter with a lone flickering light.
“The roof is broken. You have to fix it, but how and how will you pay for it?… And winter will come soon,” said Evgenia.
Luhansk Governor Gaidai said Russian forces were looting Lisichansk and its sister city Severedonetsk.
“They persecute pro-Ukrainian residents. They make deals with collaborators, identify apartments where military personnel lived, break in and take clothes,” he said.
“Everything is being destroyed. Whole book collections in Ukrainian. It’s deja vu – 1939 with Nazi Germany.”
Reuters could not immediately confirm that report.
Russia claims it does not attack civilians.
THE “LONG WAR” AHEAD.
Moscow has stepped up its military rhetoric with Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin declaring that Ukraine has become a “terrorist state”.
The remarks by the speaker of the lower house of parliament suggest Russia may expand its stated military objectives beyond the Donbass after earlier abandoning offensives against the capital Kyiv and second-largest city Kharkiv in the face of fierce resistance.
In another sign that Russia is preparing for a long war, the Duma passed two bills on first reading that would allow the government to oblige companies to supply military personnel and make employees work overtime to support the invasion. Read more
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call that he believes the Ukrainian army can retake territory recently seized from Russia.
Johnson briefed Zelensky on the latest deliveries of British military equipment, including 10 self-propelled artillery systems and ammunition, which will arrive in the coming days and weeks, a spokesman said.
The Russian invasion killed thousands, displaced millions and collapsed cities, especially in the Russian-speaking regions of eastern and southeastern Ukraine. It has also raised global energy and food prices and raised fears of famine in poorer countries, as Ukraine and Russia are major grain producers.
Ukraine has asked Turkey to help investigate three Russian-flagged ships as part of Kyiv’s efforts to investigate what it says is grain theft from Russian-occupied territory, according to official documents. Russia denies stealing Ukrainian grain. Read more
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Reports from Reuters bureaus; Written by Michael Perry; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Simon Cameron-Moore
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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