A tenth of the population would still be in this city under the bombs.
About 10,000 civilians are still present in the city of Severodonetsk, a key city in the Donbass which the Russians have been trying to seize for weeks, Serguiï Gaïdaï, the governor of the Lugansk region, said on Thursday.
“For nearly four months, they (the Russians) have dreamed of controlling Severodonetsk where, out of 100,000 inhabitants, around 10,000 are still there, not counting the victims,” said the governor on Telegram messaging.
According to him, “the Russian army loses hundreds of fighters, but finds reserves and continues to destroy Severodonetsk”.
But “our soldiers hold the defense,” he said.
Ukrainian troops driven out of the city center
The fighting has been concentrated for several weeks on Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk, two key neighboring cities for the control of Donbass, subjected to constant bombardments and most of whose infrastructure no longer exists.
The Ukrainian authorities have admitted in recent days that their troops have been driven out of the city center of Severodonetsk, and only have “complicated communication channels” with them after the destruction of all the bridges to Lysychansk.
The Ukrainian forces are notably entrenched in the Azot chemical plant, emblematic of this city with some 100,000 inhabitants before the war, with more than 500 civilians inside, according to the mayor of Severodonetsk Oleksandre Striouk.
Moscow proposed on Tuesday a "humanitarian corridor" which would allow the evacuation of these civilians to territories controlled by the Russians, before accusing kyiv on Wednesday of having "failed" the operation.
This Thursday, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi arrived in kyiv, a first for the three European leaders since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while the European Union must decide next week whether to grant Ukraine the official status of candidate to the European Union.
