‘No safe place’ from artillery as Russians advance in Ukraine’s Donetsk
- Russian troops press towards more cities in eastern Ukraine in their campaign to secure the Donbas region
- Regional governor says Russian forces were engaged in widespread shelling as they launched assault
Ukrainian defenders fought desperately to withstand a major Russian offensive in the Donetsk region, with the enemy laying down heavy artillery fire to pave the way for ground forces to advance, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday.
After Russian forces on Sunday took control of Lysychansk, the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk, Ukraine’s military braced for an assault on Donetsk, with the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk both in the Russian line of fire.
Donetsk and Luhansk comprise the Donbas, the industrialised eastern part of Ukraine that has seen the biggest battle in Europe for generations.
There was heavy fighting at the edge of the Luhansk region, its governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian television, saying Russian regular army and reserve forces had been sent there in an apparent effort to cross the Siverskiy Donets River.
“We are holding back the enemy on the border of Luhansk region and Donetsk region,” Gaidai wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.
“The occupiers are suffering significant losses, as they themselves admit,” said Gaidai, citing testimonies from Russian POWs and residents who had spoken to Russian soldiers in the fallen cities of Sievieroronetsk and Lysychansk.