As Ukrainian troops continue a desperate war for control of the city of Severodonetsk, Russia has announced that it would begin establishing a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday in order to evacuate inhabitants from a chemical factory located in Severodonetsk.
In an attempt to conquer a large portion of Ukraine, Russia is concentrating its offensive efforts on the eastern Donbas area. As a result, the industrial powerhouse is being subjected to intensive bombing.
All three bridges that crossed a river and connected the city of Lysychansk, which is a twin city of Lysychansk, to the city of Lysychansk have been destroyed as part of an escalated attempt by the forces of Moscow to isolate the surviving Ukrainian soldiers in the city.
In the meanwhile, the leader of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, has encouraged partners to deliver more heavy weaponry to Ukraine and said that officials from the alliance would be addressing the topic at discussions on Wednesday.
According to the director of the city’s administration, there are around five hundred citizens seeking refuge at the Azot chemical facility located in Severodonetsk.
A humanitarian corridor will be built on Wednesday for the purpose of evacuations from the facility, according to an announcement made by the Russian defence ministry.
Those still holding out at the facility were urged by Moscow to stop their “senseless resistance,” as evacuees were going to be moved to the city of Svatovo, which is located in the territory of Lugansk that is controlled by separatists.
There was no reaction from Kyiv to the statement, and on Tuesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bemoaned the “sad losses” that had occurred as a result of the continued war in the country.
But we have to keep our strength. This is the country that we have maintaining control of Donbas is of the utmost importance. The Donbas region will be decisive in determining who will be in charge in the coming weeks. Following its invasion in February, Russia was driven back from Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine, which prompted it to concentrate its effort on Donbas, a mostly Russian-speaking territory that has been partially controlled by pro-Kremlin rebels since 2014.
The conquest of Severodonetsk has become an important objective since doing so would open the way to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, two other important cities in the region.
Stoltenberg, the leader of NATO, asked western nations to supply the Ukrainians more heavy weaponry when he was speaking at The Hague. He said that the Ukrainians “absolutely rely on it” to be able to stand up to the ruthless invasion that Russia is doing.
At his remarks at a news conference that took place after he had met with the heads of seven European NATO members, he said that NATO officials would consider coordinating more help, including heavy weapons, during a meeting that would take place on Wednesday in Brussels.
Zelensky, in the meanwhile, expressed his disappointment to the reporters that he was speaking with over what he termed “the constrained behaviour of certain leaders,” which, according to Zelensky, “slowed down armament supply very substantially.”
According to the deputy defence minister in Kyiv, barely 10 percent of the armaments that Ukraine had sought from the West had been delivered.
As the Russians work to surround Severodonetsk, the situation for Kyiv’s soldiers in Severodonetsk is becoming more dire. According to estimates provided by the Ukrainian government, the Russians currently control close to 80 percent of the city.
An AFP crew was able to see black smoke coming from the Azot plant in Severodonetsk and another portion of the city from their vantage point in Lysychansk, which is high above the surrounding region.
The Ukrainian military is exchanging fire with Russian troops battling for control of Severodonetsk, which is only on the other side of the lake. They are utilising the high ground to do so.
Valentina, a retired woman from Lysychansk, was sitting on the porch of the flat on the ground level where she lives by herself, holding both of her walking sticks.
The former agricultural labourer, who is now 83 years old, described the situation as “extremely dangerous.”
Why, for the love of God, can’t they simply come to an understanding and shake hands?
Along the road leading from Lysychansk to Kramatorsk, Ukrainian soldiers were transferring more weaponry to the front lines, while specialised trucks brought tanks to be repaired.
There was still a whiff of smoke and a smell of burning in the town of Novodruzhesk, which is located near to Lysychansk. Over the weekend, a number of homes in the area were burned by fire as a result of shelling.
A soldier who was stationed at a fire station and had a skull emblem on his sleeve was overheard saying, “It’s not safe anyplace; it simply depends on the time of day, that’s all.”
Russia declared that it will be blacklisting 49 people of the United Kingdom at a time when tensions with the West are at an all-time high. Among those placed on the list are famous journalists and editors from the BBC, The Financial Times, and The Guardian.
“engaged in the purposeful spread of incorrect and one-sided information,” the Russian foreign ministry claimed of the journalists who were targeted.
On Tuesday, a top official with the United Nations issued a warning in New York that Ukrainian children should not be adopted in Russia. Since Moscow’s invasion in February, it is thought that several thousand children and teenagers have been relocated to Russia.
Asfhan Khan, the regional director for Europe and Central Asia for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), made these comments to reporters.