Ukraine War: Surrender in Sievjerodonetsk?

Russia gives defenders an ultimatum

Created: 06/15/2022, 04:58

By: Patrick Mayer, Markus Hofstetter, Bedrettin Bölükbasi, Christoph Gschoßmann

A pro-Russian mayor is said to have been injured in an explosion.

Russia demands the surrender of the Ukrainian defenders in Sieverodonetsk.

The news ticker on the military situation.

• Fighting

  for

  Sieverodonetsk

  continues: East Ukrainian city is almost completely taken.

• Contested

  chemical plant Azot

  : Russia wants to open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian civilians.

• Kherson mayor

  apparently injured: reports of explosion in the southern Ukrainian city.

• This

  news ticker

  on the military situation in Ukraine

  is continuously updated.

Update from June 14, 10:55 p.m.:

Russian troops are about to conquer Donbass.

Yet a former US general firmly believes in a military victory for Ukraine and a defeat for Vladimir Putin.

How he justifies it.

Assaults in eastern Ukraine: Russian troops advance near Kharkiv and Luhansk

Update from June 14, 10:28 p.m .:

According to Kiev military information, Russian troops carried out assaults in several places in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday.

In the city of Sievjerodonetsk, fighting continued for every street, the Ukrainian general staff announced in the evening.

The enemy is regrouping its troops and trying to bring in reinforcements.

Russian assaults were also recorded at Rubishne in Kharkiv Oblast and at Zolote in Luhansk Oblast.

Such an attack was repelled near Berestowe in the Donetsk region, it said.

As is usually the case, the military information could not be independently verified.

Heavy Russian artillery fire was reported on almost all sectors of the front to the east and south.

Ukraine war: Selenskyj adviser renews arms demand – “then we will win the war”

Update from June 14, 7.45 p.m .:

Ukraine is constantly asking the West to deliver heavy weapons – this also applies to Germany.

"We need long-range artillery, multiple rocket launchers, tanks, armored personnel carriers and drones," explained Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an interview with the

(behind a paywall): "If we have enough, we will we win the war.

When the West gave us 120 units of long-range artillery, the situation on the front changed immediately.

In three days, the Russians lost the speed of their offensives.” Fierce artillery battles are currently raging, especially in eastern Ukraine in the Donbass.

The Russian invasion troops recently advanced far here.

In the south, in the Cherson Oblast, where the artillery is less important due to the location, the Ukrainian army has recently reported repeated territorial gains.

also read

Next chancellor watsch'n: Baltic politician hands out against Scholz - "stupid political misstep"

"The unthinkable has happened": Lavrov rages after airspace blocking for Serbia trip

Encircled Ukrainian soldiers: Russia demands surrender in Sievjerodonetsk

Update from June 14, 5:55 p.m.:

The Russian Ministry of Defense has the Ukrainian soldiers and national guardsmen

in Sievjerodonetsk offered the opportunity for a surrender this Wednesday.

This is reported by the Russian state news

.

At the Azot chemical plant, Ukrainian militants are still in the industrial zone of the city, which has been largely occupied by the invading forces.

So far, the defenders have apparently not wanted to surrender, although all three bridges over the adjacent river Siwerskyj Donets have now been destroyed and an evacuation to the neighboring city of Lysychansk is no longer possible. 

Contested chemical plant Azot: Russia wants to open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian civilians

Update from June 14, 5:20 p.m .:

Russia wants to enable the civilians trapped in the Azot chemical plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk to escape via a humanitarian corridor.

This Wednesday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CEST (local time: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.), an escape route to the city of Swatove (Swatowo) in the Luhansk region should be opened in a northerly direction, said the representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Mikhail Mizintsev, on Tuesday in Moscow.

Around 540 to 560 civilians are believed to be in bomb shelters on the factory premises.

Swatowe is located in the Luhansk People's Republic, which is controlled by pro-Russian separatists and recognized by Moscow as a state.

"A safe evacuation of all peaceful citizens is guaranteed - without exception," Misintsev said.

Sieverodonetsk, the administrative center of the Luhansk region, has been shaken by bloody fighting for days.

The capture of the entire Luhansk region is one of Moscow's main war goals.

Surrounded: the Ukrainian defenders of Sievjerodentsk.

© Oleksandr Ratushniak/AP/dpa

Attacks also in western Ukraine: Apparently a Russian missile was shot down near Lemberg

Update from June 14, 4:20 p.m .:

This Tuesday there were apparently also attacks on the far west of Ukraine, while the focus of the warfare is still clearly in the east of the country with its more than 44 million inhabitants.

The Kyiv Independent reports a Russian rocket attack on the Lemberg Oblast (Lviv).

Four people were injured.

According to the governor of the Lviv region Maksym Kozytskyi, the Ukrainian air defense shot down a Russian missile over the city of Zolochiv.

The debris from the rocket fell on a brick factory and injured four people, including a child.

In the video: Ukrainian army is running out of weapons in the fight against Russia

Kherson mayor injured: Reports of explosion in southern Ukrainian city

Update from June 14, 3:20 p.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, the mayor of the city, Volodymyr Saldo, appointed by Russia after taking Cherson, was injured along with his bodyguards in an explosion in his car.

This was claimed by former Ukrainian MP and Ukrainian soldier Andrei Nemirovsky on Facebook.

However, the information about the incident is still unconfirmed, the Ukrainian news agency

the ex-MP as saying.

"In occupied Kherson, near the building of the regional administration, the official car of the collaborator Saldo was blown up," Nemirovsky wrote.

Both Saldo and his guards were injured in the blast.

According to the Ukrainian MP, Saldo is now being treated in intensive care.

Speaking to the Russian state agency

, a source in the pro-Russian administration in Kherson denied the claims as a "complete lie, fabrication and provocation".

Volodymyr Saldo was the mayor of Kherson from 2002 to 2012 and a Ukrainian deputy from 2012 to 2014 as part of the "Party of Regions".

After the start of the Russian invasion and the capture of Kherson by Putin's troops, he took a pro-Russian position and defected to the Russian side.

His party Volodymyr Saldo Bloc is banned in Ukraine.

Ukraine War: A Russian military convoy in March in Kherson Oblast.

© IMAGO / SNA

Ukraine-News: Fighting for Sieverodonetsk continues - chemical plant under fire

Update from June 14, 12:30 p.m .:

Fighting for the city of Sievjerodonetsk continues in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.

The situation around the local chemical plant "Azot" is particularly difficult, said the head of the city's military administration, Olexander Strjuk, on Ukrainian television.

Around 540 to 560 civilians are said to be staying in bomb shelters on the factory premises.

"Certain stocks were created at the Azot plant," Strjuk said.

In addition, the police and military provided as much help as possible.

The area is under constant fire.

Stryuk also confirmed the destruction of the third and final bridge across the Seversky Donets River.

He also spoke of ongoing street fighting between Ukrainian and Russian units.

More than three and a half months after the start of the war, Sievjerodonetsk is the last major city in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk that is still partially controlled by the Ukrainian army.

Ukraine-News: Attacks on Ukrainian ammunition dumps - Russia uses long-range missiles

Update from June 14, 11:35 a.m.:

Russia says it has used long-range missiles to attack the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine.

A weapons and ammunition depot near the town of Pryluky was destroyed by Kalibr missiles, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Rockets were also fired at Ukrainian units and weapons depots in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russian troops shelled 101 Ukrainian military locations.

The Ukrainian side lost 350 troops, three command posts, 13 tanks and other armored vehicles, the ministry in Moscow claimed.

In addition, the Russian air defense shot down a Mig-29 fighter jet and a Mi-24 helicopter from the Ukrainian Air Force.

The information cannot be independently verified.

Ukraine-News: Ukraine reports Russian advance - Putin's troops are probably advancing in Donetsk

Update from June 14, 11:25 a.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, Russian troops in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine were able to advance further.

The Russian attackers had established themselves in the settlement of Vidrodzhennya, the Ukrainian general staff said on Facebook.

Previously there had been heavy artillery fire on the nearby town of Bakhmut.

The Russian units advanced along the European route 40 in the direction of Bakhmut.

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

In the northern part of the region fighting continues for the village of Bohorodychne.

This was apparently intended to create the conditions for a further advance towards the city of Sloviansk, it said.

According to Ukrainians' assessments, the Russians are preparing to resume their offensive from captured Lyman to Rajhorodok and from Yampil to Siwersk.

Rajhorodok is located only a few kilometers from Sloviansk. 

Ukraine-News: British report Russian successes - Putin's troops are advancing in Kharkiv

Update from June 14, 9:20 a.m

.: The British Ministry of Defense reports small Russian successes in Kharkiv.

For the first time in weeks, Russia has made progress around the megacity.

However, the main Russian attack efforts are still aimed at the Sieverodonetsk pocket, according to the daily intelligence update on the Ukraine war on Tuesday.

Update from June 13, 9:45 p.m .:

 The Ukrainian army has lost the center of the heavily contested city of Sievjerodonetsk, but not the entire city.

The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haiday, stated that Russian troops now controlled more than 70 percent of the city area.

"The Russians are destroying district after district," he said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously announced that the defenders in the eastern Ukrainian industrial city were fighting for "every meter" of ground with the (pro-)Russian attackers.

Ukraine-News: Mayor of Donetsk city Sviatohirsk defected to Russia

Update from June 13, 2:25 p.m .:

 A mayor defected to Russia: The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Sviatohirsk in the north of Donetsk Oblast has joined the occupiers.

According to the pro-Russian newspaper "Strana", Vladimir Bandura is said to have been appointed "head of administration" for the city that was conquered about a week ago.

Denis Pushilin - the president of the Donetsk separatist republic DNR, which is recognized only by Russia - officially handed over the post to him.

Almost a week ago, Puschilin spoke of the Russian capture of the city, which is important for the Russian Orthodox Church.

Puschilin spoke of a "cleansing".

Mayor Bandura then accused the Ukrainian army of setting fire to the Archmonastery of the Dormition.

For this reason, criminal proceedings against Bandura are already underway in Ukraine.

Ukraine War: Need hundreds of tanks and guns to win

Update from June 13, 12:46 p.m .:

Ukraine has specified demands for comprehensive arms deliveries, which the government in Kiev believes it needs to win the war against Russia.

"1000 155mm caliber howitzers, 300 multiple rocket launcher systems, 500 tanks, 2000 armored vehicles, 1000 drones," Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Kyiv is expecting a decision on this from the meeting of NATO defense ministers next Wednesday in Brussels.

Ukraine has been defending itself against a Russian invasion since late February.

According to information from Kyiv, a shortage of heavy weapons and ammunition is making the situation on the more than 2,400-kilometer front increasingly difficult.

Ukraine-News: Maize cargo ship bypasses Russia's blockade on the Black Sea

Update from June 13, 12.40 p.m .:

New sea routes from Ukraine: A ship with 18,000 tons of Ukrainian corn arrived at a port in northwestern Spain early on Monday, using a “new sea route”.

This was explained by the animal feed producer group Agafac.

The new route aims to bypass Russia's blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

The cargo ship Alppila arrived at the Spanish port of La Coruña before sunrise on Monday and is due to be unloaded by Tuesday, the port's press office told

.

It is the first shipment of Ukrainian grain to reach north-west Spain by sea.

Ukraine.News: Ukrainian army pushed back from city center of Seyerodonetsk

Update from June 13, 10:06 a.m .:

After weeks of fierce fighting, the Ukrainian army says it has been pushed back from the center of the strategically important city of Sievjerodonetsk in the Donbass region.

The Russian army, with the support of its artillery, "partially" managed to push back the Ukrainian soldiers in the city center, the Ukrainian general staff said on the online service Facebook on Monday.

The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajdaj, also reported a "partial" success of the Russian troops on Monday night.

Russian forces continued to "destroy" Sieverodonetsk, Hajday said on Facebook.

Update from June 13, 8:38 a.m

.: The Ukrainian army has acknowledged the loss of the center of the heavily contested city of Sievjerodonetsk in the east of the country.

Russian troops shelled the city in the Luhansk region with artillery and drove out the Ukrainian soldiers, the Ukrainian general staff said on Monday morning.

The fighting continued, however, it said.

A few hours earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had declared that in the strategically important Sieverodonetsk there was "literally a fight for every meter".

According to their own statements, Ukrainian troops still controlled around a third of the city on Saturday.

Ukraine conflict: Amnesty International accuses Russia of using cluster munitions

Update from June 13, 6:55 a.m

.: Russian troops are said to have used cluster munitions in the Ukraine war.

This is the result of research by Amnesty International (AI).

"In Kharkiv, people were killed in their homes and on the streets while they visited playgrounds with their children, commemorated their relatives in cemeteries, while queuing for aid deliveries or while shopping," reported Janine Uhlmannsiek from the German AI offshoot, citing a new one Report entitled "Anyone can die at any time".

Uhlmannsiek demanded that those responsible for these attacks should be brought to justice and that the injured and the families of the victims should be compensated.

Cluster munitions are rockets or bombs that burst while still in the air over the target, releasing a large number of small explosive devices.

This is outlawed in most countries around the world.

Ukraine-News: Russia reports "terrorist attack" in Berdyansk

Update from June 12, 5:30 p.m .:

Russia reports a “terrorist attack” in the Ukrainian city of Berdyansk in the southern Ukrainian Zaporizhia Oblast.

"A terrorist attack has been carried out in the city of Berdyansk in the Zaporizhia region," writes the Russian news agency TASS.

The details of the incident are still being clarified.

Berdyansk is currently occupied by Russian troops.

The Ukrainian news portal

 reported explosions in the city area, for example at a substation, and referred to the city council.

According to Russian reports, Ukrainian fighters could be responsible for the explosions.

They wanted to disrupt Russia Day, a Russian public holiday on June 12, it said.

Update from June 12, 3:40 p.m .:

According to AFP, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that more than 150 soldiers from the Ukrainian army were killed in air raids.

In addition, six tanks, five artillery pieces and ten army vehicles are said to have been destroyed.

Two Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jets were shot down by Russian jets, another Ukrainian SU-25 was hit by air defenses.

This information cannot be verified independently.

Ukraine conflict: Russian missiles are said to have destroyed warehouses with western weapons

Update from June 12, 1:48 p.m .:

According to their own statements, the Russian armed forces attacked a large arms depot near Ternopil in the west of the country during the Ukraine war.

"High-precision long-range Kalibr sea-launched missiles destroyed a large camp of anti-tank missile systems, man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems and artillery shells near the town of Chortkiv in the Ternopil region," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday.

The weapons are said to have been supplied by the US and European countries.

Four Kalibr long-range missiles were fired from a frigate in the Black Sea, according to the Defense Ministry.

The head of the Ternopil regional administration, Volodymyr Trush, confirmed the attack.

Accordingly, shortly before 10 p.m. local time, four rockets hit military and several civilian objects.

Among other things, four houses were damaged.

22 people were injured.

Nothing was known about the dead.

Ukraine-News: Russian army to use entire reserve to occupy Sievjerodonetsk

Update from June 12, 11:30 a.m.:

According to information from

Serhiy Hayday, governor of the Luhansk region, the Russian army is using “all its reserves” to occupy Sieverodonetsk.

This is reported by the Ukrainian news agency Unian, citing local media.

The aim of Russia is therefore to bring the road between Lysychansk and Bakhmut under control today or tomorrow.

The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, reports that its navy destroyed a warehouse containing weapons from the US and European countries in a Kalibr missile attack on Chortkiv in Ternopil Oblast.

Previously, Volodyr Trush, governor of the oblast, had confirmed a rocket attack (see update at 9.40 a.m.).

This information could not be checked independently.

Ukraine-News: Rocket attack damages gas pipeline in the west of the country

Update from June 12, 9.40 a.m .:

22 people are said to have been injured in a rocket attack in the Chortkiv area in Ternopil Oblast in western Ukraine.

This was announced by the governor of the region, Volodyr Trush, on Telegram.

In addition to a military facility, a gas pipeline is said to have been damaged.

Ukrainian secret service: Russian General Staff adjusts plans to the course of the battle in Donbass

First report from June 12:

Kiev - Russia is said to be preparing for an even longer operation in the Ukraine war.

This emerges from the current report of the "Institute for the Study of War" from June 11th.

According to this, the Ukrainian secret service GRU has the information that the Russian army leadership has extended its planning by 120 days until October 2022.

The Russian General Staff is adapting its plans to the course of the fighting in the Donbass, so that they are changed monthly.

One problem with this is that the Russian army still lacks reserves.

According to the GRU, Russia has deployed 103 BTGs (Battalion Tactical Groups) in Ukraine so far.

Another 40 BTGs are to be held in reserve.

However, these should not be full-fledged combat units, but associations whose personnel have been thrown together from other units.

Meanwhile, according to the Ukrainian military, fighting in the city of Sievjerodonetsk in eastern Ukraine continues.

The Russian army fired on the civilian infrastructure in the city and in neighboring Lysychansk and three other places, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said on Facebook on Saturday.