Russian makes advances on Ukrainian strongholds in east

Ukrainian forces have fallen back in the face of Moscow’s biggest advance for weeks as Russian forces captured the centre of the railway hub town of Lyman and encircled most of the nearby strategic Severodonetsk city in eastern Ukraine.

Despite the apparent Russian advances on two of the major fronts in the war on Friday, Ukrainian officials insisted its forces were still fighting to keep control of the northwestern and southeastern parts of Lyman town, and holding firm at new defensive lines in the eastern Donbas region, reports al-jazeera.

The Russian military’s advances show how momentum has shifted in recent days, and Ukrainian officials are characterising the battles in the region in grave terms, renewing their appeals for more sophisticated Western-supplied weaponry to counter Moscow’s firepower.

Ukraine’s foreign minister pleaded for “weapons, weapons and weapons again,” warning that without a new injection of foreign arms, Ukrainian forces would not be able to stop Russia’s advance on the east.

Fighting on Friday focused on two key cities: Severodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk. They are the last areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk – one of two provinces that make up the Donbas, and where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled some territory for eight years.

“There are battles on the outskirts of the city. Massive artillery shelling does not stop, day and night,” Severodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk told The Associated Press.

“The city is being systematically destroyed – 90 percent of the buildings in the city are damaged.”

An assault was under way in the city’s northeastern quarter, where Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups tried to capture the Mir Hotel and the area around it on Friday, the mayor said.

At least 1,500 people have died in the city because of the war since Russia invaded on February 24, the mayor said, adding that about 12,000 to 13,000 people remain in the city.

Those who have died were killed by shelling or in fires caused by Russian missile attacks, as well as those who died from shrapnel wounds, untreated diseases, a lack of medicine or while trapped under rubble, according to the mayor.

Agencies