The last bridge to the city was destroyed, trapping the remaining civilians and making it impossible to deliver humanitarian aid, said regional governor Sergei Gaidai, adding that about 70% of the city was under Russian control. Ukraine has made increasingly urgent calls for more Western heavy weapons to help defend Sievirodonetsk, which Kyiv says could hold the key to fighting in the eastern Donbass region and the course of the war. he is now in his fourth month. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Late Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the battle for eastern Donbas would be hailed as one of the most brutal in European history. The region, which includes the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, is claimed by Russian separatists. “For us, the price of this battle is very high. It ‘s just scary,” he said. “Every day we draw the attention of our partners to the fact that only a sufficient number of modern artillery for Ukraine will ensure our advantage.” Russia’s main goal is to protect Donetsk and Luhansk, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said on Monday, after the leader of one of the separatist regions called for additional forces from Moscow. read more Ukraine needs 1,000 shells, 500 tanks and 1,000 drones, among other heavy weapons, Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Monday. Moscow has issued the latest of several recent reports that it has destroyed American and European weapons and equipment. The Russian Defense Ministry said high-precision air-to-air missiles struck near the Udachne railway station northwest of Donetsk, hitting equipment delivered to Ukrainian forces. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry told the Telegram that Udachne had been hit by a Russian strike Sunday night, without specifying whether weapons had been targeted. Moscow has criticized the United States and other nations for sending weapons to Ukraine and has threatened to hit new targets if the West supplies long-range missiles. The European Commission will recommend that Ukraine be given official status as an EU candidate country, Politico reported late Monday, citing several anonymous officials. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that the EU executive’s opinion on Ukraine’s bid would be ready by the end of this week.
MARIOPOLI AGAIN?
Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency quoted a spokesman for the Moscow separatists, Eduard Basurin, as saying that Ukrainian troops had been effectively barred from Siyevirodonetsk and that they had to surrender or die. The situation was in danger of becoming like Mariupol, “with a large pocket of Ukrainian defenders cut off from the rest of the Ukrainian troops,” said Damien Magrou, a spokesman for the International Defense Legion of Ukraine, which had forces in Sievierodonetsk. During the fall of Mariupol last month, hundreds of civilians and severely wounded Ukrainian soldiers were trapped for weeks at the Azovstal steel plant. Russia has denied that it targeted civilians in what it calls a “special operation” to restore Russian security and “de-escalate” its neighbor. Ukraine and its Western allies call it an unfounded pretext for an invasion that has killed thousands of civilians and raised fears of a wider conflict in Europe. More than 5 million people have fled and the world has been hit by a food and energy crisis that is dividing Western nations over how to handle it. read more After failing to occupy the capital Kyiv after the February 24 invasion, Moscow focused on expanding control of Donbass, where pro-Russian separatists have held territory since 2014. Russia has also sought to occupy most of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. “The whole front is under constant bombardment,” Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kirilenko told Ukrainian television on Monday night. The towns of Maryinka, Krasnohorivka, Vuhledar were hit in the coal production zone and Avdiivka, where a large coking plant is located, he said. Gaidai said a six-year-old boy was among those killed in the latest Lysychansk bombing. Officials in the Donetsk region controlled by Russian-backed separatists say at least three people, including a child, have been killed and 18 injured in Ukrainian bombings that hit a market in the city of Donetsk. The Donetsk News Agency showed photos of burning stalls in Maisky Central Market and several corpses on the ground. The news agency reported that 155mm NATO artillery shells hit parts of the region on Monday. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. In Bakhmut, Donetsk, a resident who gave her name as Valya investigated the wreckage of an apartment building, local authorities said, and were hit by an airstrike. “We went to bed, we’re old, you know. And then suddenly … Scary, look what happened,” he said. “Nothing good is happening here.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report from Reuters’s offices. Costas Pitas writes. Edited by: David Gregorio and Stephen Coates Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
