Russian troops are steadily making ground gains in Severodonetsk, the British Ministry of Defense reports. The daily intelligence update reports that the advance is being made possible by “a heavy concentration of artillery”.
According to the British, there are casualties on the Russian side. Most of the city in the eastern Luhansk region has since been taken. According to the regional governor, this concerns 70 percent of the area. The main route to the city is probably still under Ukraine’s control, the British ministry reports.
Defence goes on to say that crossing a river south of Severodonetsk is of “vital” importance for Russian forces if they want to take Luhansk and shift the focus of their operation to the Donetsk region. The Ukrainian army would still have control over that river and have destroyed bridges there.
The fighting in Severodonetsk has damaged or destroyed 90 percent of the buildings, according to Ukrainian authorities. In addition, residents have fled en masse and there have also been deaths. Before the war, the city had about 100,000 inhabitants, now about 12,000. The death toll stands at about 1,500, according to Ukrainian information.
