According to the mayor of Sievierodonetsk, a vital city in war-torn Ukraine where Russian soldiers have increased their assault, up to 10,000 inhabitants are stuck in the city and escape is “difficult.” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the struggle for Sievierodonetsk, which has been waging for days, “one of the most difficult” since the beginning of the conflict.
“This is a really cruel, severe combat, maybe the most grueling of the war.” Sievierodonetsk remains the epicenter of the Donbass conflict… That is mostly where the fate of our Donbas is being determined right now.”
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict is in its fourth month, and the combat has shifted to Sievierodonetsk, one of the remaining places under Ukrainian control in Luhansk, one of two provinces that comprise the Donbas. For the past eight years, Russia-backed rebels have controlled sections of the Donbas area.
“Ukrainian troops still hold the industrial zone and nearby regions in Sievierodonetsk, and the situation is challenging but manageable, but evacuating 10,000 surviving people is now impossible,” stated Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk.
As part of its plans to seize a swath of eastern Ukraine, Moscow’s soldiers are focusing on the strategically crucial industrial region. Ukraine has been reminded of the horrors of Mariupol, a port city that surrendered to Russia after weeks of combat.