Russians move to encircle Severodonetsk

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Ukraine battling to hold control of Severodonetsk highway - defence ministry

Ukraine is battling to remain in control of a key highway to the front-line city of Severodonetsk, the country's defence ministry says.

Defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told a briefing that alternative routes existed to supply Ukrainian units in Severodonetsk, which is surrounded on three sides by Russian forces.

Russia's aim is to fully surround Ukrainian units in the city, as well as in nearby Lysychansk, he added.

Russian forces are seeking to take control of Severodonetsk, Lyschansk, and Rubizhne in order to place the whole of the Luhansk area under Russian occupation.

Luhansk makes up half of the eastern Donbas region, where Moscow has re-focused its war effort. Many believe President Putin could claim victory in the war if Russia takes control of Donbas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-61546571

Russian assault on eastern Ukraine threatens to encircle Sievierodonetsk

Zelenskiy calls situation in Donbas ‘extremely difficult’ as Russia tries to carve up Ukrainian-held territory

Russian forces have launched fresh assaults on towns in eastern Ukraine, with the city of Sievierodonetsk increasingly in danger of being totally encircled.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said delays in arrival of western arms to the frontline had left Kyiv “catastrophically short of heavy weapons”.

The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said the area was now without gas supplies and had limited water and electricity after the last gas supply station was hit.

Haidai added that Russian forces were attempting to “completely destroy” the city of Sievierodonetsk in an attempt to conquer the Donbas region, near Russia’s border.

“They are simply erasing Sievierodonetsk from the face of the Earth,” Haidai said on his Telegram channel.

“At the moment, with the support of artillery, the Russian occupiers are attacking Sievierodonetsk,” Haidai added.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation in Donbas was “extremely difficult”, with the Russian army bringing its full force to bear. Footage from recent days from frontline areas, posted on social media, has depicted a constant barrage of artillery and rocket fire raining down on key roads and Ukrainian positions.

Recent video footage posted by AFP photographer Aris Messinis in Donbas showed shells hitting close to a road in the country’s east and the constant sound of incoming artillery fire.

Russia appears to have deployed higher quality troops from a so-called operational manoeuvre group to spearhead the operation around Sievierdonestsk, with some reports suggesting that Russian aircraft were flying several hundred sorties a day in support of the attack.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/25/russian-assault-eastern-ukraine-sievierodonetsk-donbas

Actual reports of what's happening in Ukraine are becoming more sparse.
I suspect selective Western reporting .

 

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Battle for key road as fighting reaches Ukraine city

A senior figure in eastern Ukraine has denied reports a vital road linking Ukrainian-controlled areas in the east has been blocked from the rest of the country by Russian forces.

"Luhansk has not been cut off," said the region's military administration head, Serhiy Haidai.

Fighting has reached the outskirts of the big city of Severodonetsk, a key Russian target.

If they capture the road to Bakhmut then the city could be surrounded.

Haidai said while the route to the south-west of Severodonetsk has come under fire, humanitarian aid is still getting through.

Things have been far bleaker in Severodonetsk itself, which is being shelled 24 hours a day and Russian forces are close enough to use mortar rounds as well as artillery and aerial bombing, he told the BBC.

If Russia captures the neighbouring town of Lysychansk then the whole Luhansk region will be in its hands.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-61589080

 

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Ukraine war: Troops could quit Severodonetsk amid Russian advance - official

Ukrainian troops could withdraw from the big eastern city of Severodonetsk, which Russian forces are close to surrounding, an official there says.

Local military head Serhiy Haidai said that Russians were in part of the city. "It is possible that in order not to be surrounded, they will have to leave".

Russia has made seizing the whole eastern Donbas region a key war aim.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61613479

The faster the troops leave the better for the city and its civilians . Better to adapt to Russian rule than to be dead among the rubble.

Boris Johnson, safe in his UK bunker, wants to send heavier weapons into Ukraine.