Nitric acid tank hit by Russian airstrikes on city Severonetskon the front line in eastern Ukraine, according to Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai.
In a post on the Telegram application, Gaidai called the inhabitants not to leave the shelters so that they are not endangered by toxic gases that may be released from the tank.
Gaidai posted a photo of a large, pink cloud in the city sky. He did not give any further details about the victims.
Russian forces control almost half of Sheverodonetsk, continuing their advance into eastern Ukraine, while Kyiv won the diploma “Battle”, with the EU decision to impose gradual embargo on Russian oil imports.
After pounding the city for weeks, Russian forces have now taken control of “a part” of Sheverodonetsk, Gaidai said earlier. But he assured that Ukrainian fighters continue to defend the city.
“The front line cut the city in two,” Alexander Stryuk, the mayor of Severodonetsk, confirmed on Ukrainian television. “But the city is still defending itself“It is still Ukrainian and our soldiers are defending it,” he added.
Sheverodonetsk and neighboring Lisichansk, about 80 km from the administrative capital of Luhansk, Kramatorsk, are two key cities in order for the Russian forces to achieve their stated goal, to control the entire Donbas basin.
In Sheverodonetsk, a city of 100,000 before the war, there may be 12,000 civilians trapped by the bombing, according to estimates by the Norwegian Refugee Council, a non-governmental organization whose workers lived in the city. on February 24 and the Russian invasion.
Until a week ago, the organization distributed food and basic necessities to residents of Severodonetsk and the surrounding area, but “due to the intensity of the fighting” it is now impossible to continue, said its secretary general, Jan Eggeland. The Council called on the warring parties to allow access to humanitarian organizations and to assist in the evacuation of civilians.
A ceasefire, however temporary, seems unlikely as peace talks have stalled.
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