Conflicts & War

Ukraine forces resist in Sievierodonetsk as Russia storms Donbas

Kyiv, Jun 6 (EFE).- Russia continues to face fierce resistance Sievierodonetsk, a strategic city in the Kremlin’s bid to wrest control of the entire eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.

“The Russians are storming Sievierodonetsk,” Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, said on Telegram as cited by Ukrinform Monday.

“Street fights are ongoing there. However, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding the defense. The head of state, who visited our advanced positions in the Luhansk region at night, was convinced of this.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy late Sunday visited front line positions in the oblasts of Luhansk and Donetsk, collectively known as the Donbas, Ukrinform reported.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has concentrated much of his military effort on capturing the region, swathes of which have been under the control of pro-Moscow separatists since 2014.

Putin officially recognized the independence of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics on the eve of the invasion, using them as a pretense for his military assault.

Russia has also carried out attacks on Sievierodonetsk’s outlying towns and settlements, Haidai said.

Sievierodonetsk is the scene of street fighting with Russian forces and their allies in control of eastern districts of the city.

Putin’s aim of seizing the entire Donbas region would allow Russia to create a land bridge stretching from east to southern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. EFE

rml-int/ch/jt

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