Russian Troops Advance Into Key City In Donbas

Russian tanks and troops have begun advancing into Sievierodonetsk, the largest city in Donbas still held by Ukraine, bringing fighting street by street as the Kremlin's forces continue to grind forward in the east of the country.

- Lorenzo Tondo

Witnesses said Russian tanks were advancing towards the centre of the city one blast at a time, razing everything in their path that remains after intense shelling that Ukrainian authorities have said led to a situation reminiscent of Mariupol.

"Unfortunately we have disappointing news: the enemy is moving into the city," the Luhansk regional governor, Serhiy Gaidai, told Ukrainian national television yesterday.

The Russian army "use the same tactics over and over again. They shell for several hours for three, four, five hours - in a row and then attack. Those who attack die. Then the shelling and attack follow again, and so on until they break through somewhere."

The battle for Sievierodonetsk, which lies on the eastern bank of the Siverskyi Donets River, about 90 miles south of the Russian border, is in the spotlight as Russia makes slow but solid gains in the industrial Donbas, which comprises the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk.

Witnesses said the city was being bombed "200 times an hour" as Russian forces tried to cut off reinforcement lines and surround its remaining Ukrainian defenders.

The city's mayor, Oleksandr Striuk, confirmed in a telephone interview with the Associated Press that Russian troops had "advanced a few blocks towards the city centre". He said Ukrainian forces were fighting to push the Russians out in street fighting and that the 12,000-13,000 civilians left in the city were sheltering in basements and bunkers to escape relentless bombardment.

Local authorities estimated that 1,500 civilians had already died in Russian attacks on Sievierodonetsk, including from a lack of medicines. Striuk said the city had "been completely ruined" and that the number of victims was "rising every hour, but we are unable to count the dead and wounded amid the street fighting".