“Units of the Ukrainian army, having suffered critical losses during the battles for Sheverodonetsk, are withdrawing to Lysitshansk,” a large neighboring city, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The Russian military today claimed that Ukrainian military units withdraw from the city Severonetsk in eastern Ukraine, where fierce fighting is raging between Kyiv and Kremlin troops.
“Units of the Ukrainian army, having suffered critical losses over time of the battles for Sheverodonetsk (up to 90% in many units“, they are withdrawing to Lisichansk”, a large neighboring city, on the other bank of the Donetsk River, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The ministry did not specify how many Ukrainian troops were retreating to Lysichansk. The French Agency was not able to confirm these statements from an independent source.
“The Ukrainian authorities, realizing that it is impossible to resist any longer and hold the Sheverodonetsk industrial zone, ordered a joint tactical group to mine the nitrate and nitric acid tanks at the Azot plant,” the Russian military said in a statement.
The same source clarified that this group consists mainly of “Survivors” of the 79th Airborne Brigade and members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense.
According to Moscow, the Ukrainian army wants to blow up these chemical tanks to contaminate the area and “delay” the attack by Russian troops.
Russian forces are pursuing to control the entire Donbass basin, which has been under partial control since 2014 by pro-Russian separatist forces backed by Moscow. The city of Sheverodonetsk, along with neighboring Lisichansk, located about 80 kilometers from the Ukrainian regional administrative capital Kramatorsk, are considered the keys to achieving this.
Before the war, Severodonetsk had about 100,000 inhabitants.
