LVIV, Ukraine — Russian troops appear close to fully capturing the key Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, jeopardizing the fate of two eastern provinces at the center of Moscow’s campaign of conquest and raising pressure on the U.S. and its European allies to quickly deliver advanced weapons systems to try to turn the tide.
Moscow’s forces have taken control of “most” of Severodonetsk, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in a daily briefing Thursday — the result of pitched street battles and heavy artillery bombardment that has leveled swaths of the city near the banks of the strategically important Seversky Donets River.
Capture of the city could precipitate the fall of Luhansk, one of two eastern provinces bordering Russia, including Donetsk, that form the Donbas region where the Kremlin has concentrated its military might following its failure to seize the capital, Kyiv.
