Ukrainian forces admitted on Monday that they had abandoned the center of Severodonetsk, following a new Russian offensive on this key city in eastern Ukraine, which the two belligerents have been fighting over for weeks.
A partial success of the "enemy"
“With artillery support, the enemy stormed Severodonetsk, achieved partial success, and pushed our units back from the city center.
Hostilities are continuing,” said the Ukrainian General Staff in its morning update posted on Facebook.
Sergiï Gaïdaï, governor of the Luhansk region – of which Severodonetsk is the administrative center for the part controlled by the Ukrainian authorities – confirmed that the Ukrainian forces had been pushed back from the center.
The last bridge destroyed
“The street fights continue (…) the Russians continue to destroy the city,” he wrote on Facebook, posting photos of devastated buildings in flames.
Pro-Russian separatists fighting with the Russians in this region claimed that the last Ukrainian divisions in Severodonetsk were now "blocked", after the destruction of the last bridge that led to the neighboring city of Lysychansk.
“They have two possibilities (..), surrender or die,” said Edouard Bassourine, spokesperson for the separatists.
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