Severodonetsk enclave resists Russian offensive
Kyiv, Jun 17 (EFE).- The strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk is resisting Russian attacks as Moscow forces try to seize the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance.
“Russian occupants continue to fire cannons and rockets on Ukrainian positions,” Ukraine’s Armed Forces daily report said Friday.
The military report added that Russian troops continued to attack Severodonetsk’s surrounding villages and that heavy fighting continued.
“The aggressor is moving additional rocket artillery units in this direction,” it said.
Hundreds of civilians are holed up in the Azot chemical plant located in the industrial area of the eastern city, a situation that could become a repeat of Mariupol, the southeastern city where civilians and Ukrainian soldiers took refuge at the Azovstal steel plant for a month.
Russian troops already control over 70% of Severodonetsk.
In the eastern Kharkiv region, Russian armed forces were focusing on securing the captured borders to prevent Ukrainian forces from reaching the rear of the Russian troops moving towards Sloviansk, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine’s military said.
Meanwhile in the southern Kherson region, Russian troops have withdrawn from some parts of the area after Ukrainian strikes hit their positions.
“The Ukrainian aviation has hit enemy groups in districts of the Kherson region, partially occupied by the Russians, both in the capital and in nearby Kakhovka and Beryslav,” the report said.
Fighting continued in Sloviansk, in the Donetsk region, where Russian troops tried to seize full control of the Bohorodychne village.
“The enemy tried to seize full control of Bohorodychne, but the Ukrainian defenders successfully repulsed the assault,” the report added.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian troops continued to suffer losses of personnel, weapons and equipment.EFE
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