Fierce battles are taking place in eastern Ukraine for control of the Donbass region, as Russian forces threaten the cities of Severodonetsk and its neighbor Lyschansk, after Moscow declared control of the strategic town of Lyman.
On Sunday, Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian attack on Severodonetsk, the largest city controlled by Ukrainian forces in the Lugansk region of the Donbass region in the east, but also encountered showers of heavy artillery, officials said.
The Ukrainian Army Chief of Staff said that what it described as the enemy launched offensive operations around Severodonetsk in the Donbass region.
And Sergey Gaidai, the Ukrainian governor of the Lugansk region, announced that the city witnessed a "difficult day" yesterday, and that "the situation is also getting worse in Lysekhansk."
He added that the bombing is so intense that it is no longer possible to assess the latest losses and damages, while dozens of buildings have been destroyed in the past few days.
Gaidai pointed out that Russian forces were stationed in a hotel on the northern edge of the city of Severodonetsk, but that it is still under the control of Ukrainian forces, and added via Telegram, "They cannot advance into the city, but we cannot at the moment push them out of the hotel."
The Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, announced yesterday the full control of Russian forces over the city of Severodonetsk.
For his part, Oleksandr Stryuk, Mayor of Severodonetsk, confirmed that "the Russians have brought many means to storm the city, but they cannot do so yet," adding, "We believe that the city will resist," although he indicated the worsening health situation in the city, which was inhabited by 100,000 people. prewar.
The Ukrainian government urged the West to provide it with longer-range weapons, in order to turn the direction of the war, which has entered its fourth month.
The Battle of Severodonetsk, on the eastern side of the Seversky Donetsk River, became the focus of Russia, which was making significant, if slow, gains in the Donbass region, which includes the Lugansk and Donetsk regions.
Russia's focus on Severodonetsk diverted resources from other battlefronts, so they did not make gains in other regions.
On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said - on Sunday - that the Russian bombing had destroyed all vital infrastructure facilities in Severodonetsk, noting that the capture of the city had now become the "main goal" of the Russians.
"As a result of the Russian bombing of Severodonetsk, all major infrastructure facilities were destroyed... More than two-thirds of the city's housing units were destroyed," Zelensky said in a televised speech.
Zelensky on the battle fronts
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose leadership is widely admired in the West, inspected Ukrainian forces on the front lines in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Sunday.
This trip is his first official appearance outside the Kyiv region, since President Putin launched the war on February 24.
"You are risking your lives for all of us, and for our country," Zelensky's office quoted him as telling the soldiers, while thanking them and distributing gifts to them.
"2229 destroyed houses in Kharkiv and in the region, we will restore, we will rebuild, we will bring life back to Kharkiv and all other cities and villages where evil came," Zelensky wrote in a post accompanying a video of his visit via the Telegram app.
In the scenes, Zelensky appears, inspecting the destruction and smashed cars on the side of the road, wearing a "khaki" uniform and a bullet-proof vest, accompanied by assistants and armed soldiers.
"In this war, the occupiers are trying to get any result. But they should realize a long time ago that we are defending our land to the end. They will have no chance. We will fight and win," he said.
Kharkiv, the second most important city in Ukraine, has been bombed almost daily since the start of the battles on February 24, and has been quiet for several weeks with the withdrawal of the Russian army to other locations in the east and south, but the eastern part of the city is still sometimes targeted.
In the same context, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that the civilized world should recognize Russia as a state sponsor and sponsor of terrorism, and that it is committing genocide against the Ukrainian people.
In a tweet, Reznikov called on members of the NATO Parliamentary Council, currently in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to stop what he described as Russian propaganda, and to present and clarify the reality of war for their peoples.
counter attacks
In the Donbass region, the pro-Russian separatist Donetsk authorities said that 3 civilians were killed and 10 others wounded as a result of artillery shelling by the Ukrainian army on residential neighborhoods in the Petrovsky district, southwest of Donetsk city center.
The separatists in Donetsk added that the Ukrainian forces stationed in Avdiivka fired hundreds of shells at different areas of the province during the past 24 hours.
For its part, the Ukrainian military command said that its forces were responding to an attack in the southern Kherson region, most of which Russia occupies.
In its daily briefing, the command said that the Ukrainian forces pushed the Russian forces back, forcing them to take "defensive positions" near the Pivdny Buh river after a similar counterattack in 3 villages on the border with the neighboring Mykolaiv Territory.
In Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported strong explosions, and Al-Jazeera's camera monitored plumes of smoke rising from the eastern side of the city near the Angolisky district.
For its part, the command of the Ukrainian forces in the south confirmed the explosions, without revealing the details of the target location or the extent of the damage.