President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, poses for a photo with serviceman close to the front line in Donetsk region
(Picture: AP)Intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces has turned Severodonetsk and Lysychansk into “dead cities”, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned.
Mr Zelensky said that Russian forces had a numerical advantage in the besieged eastern cities, but that Ukraine’s forces had “every chance” of fighting back.
“It is the 103rd day, and the Ukrainian Donbas stands. It stands firmly,” he said in his nightly address to the nation on Monday.
“There are more of them, they are more powerful, but we have every chance to fight on there.”
However, he warned of a “threatening” situation in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, home to more than 700,000 people. It is feared that defeat to the Russian army there would severely weaken Ukraine’s standing and allow Vladimir Putin’s forces to advance closer to the centre of the country.
The Russian army has ramped up artillery attacks on targets in the Donbas as Mr Putin seeks control of the region, while Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai has described the combat situation in Severodonetsk as “quite dynamic.”
“Our defenders managed to conduct counteroffensive and free nearly half of the city, but the situation has worsened again now,” Mr Haidai told the Associated Press.
“The shelling of Sievierodonetsk has intensified, (the Russians) are destroying everything in line with their scorched earth tactics,” he alleged.
Mr Haidai said that the Russians have continued intensive bombardment also of nearby Lysychansk.
The Russians “have an enormous amount of equipment and personnel, they have pulled up a lot of reserves,” he said. He added that they had shelled a humanitarian center in Lysychansk and destroyed a bakery, and that 98 people had left the town over the past 24 hours.
It came just a day after the Ukrainian president visited Lysychansk on Sunday during a tour of the eastern front line.
In a video released by his office, the president thanked soldiers for their bravery. “What you all deserve is victory – that is the most important thing. But not at any cost,” he said.
Elsewhere, Russian warplanes fired long-range missiles to destroy a plant on the edge of the town of Lozova in the northeastern Kharkiv region that was repairing armored vehicles, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said.
Russian aircraft hit 73 areas of concentration of Ukrainian troops and equipment on Monday, while Russian artillery struck 431 military targets, Mr Konashenkov said. The Standard could not independently verify his claims.
