Zelenskyy hails troops as chemical plant sheltering civilians hit in eastern Ukraine
As bitter fighting raged in the city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine's president hailed his country's fighters for defying Russian forces in his country's eastern D
As bitter fighting raged in the city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine's president hailed his country's fighters for defying Russian forces in his country's eastern Donbas region.
“Remember how in Russia, in the beginning of May, they hoped to seize all of the Donbas?” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a late night video address. “It’s already the 108th day of the war, already June. Donbas is holding on.”
He added that Moscow had suffered “significant” losses as it attempted to capture Ukrainian held territory in the region that borders Russia, large parts of which have been controlled Kremlin-backed separatists for more than eight years.
But as Russian advances toward its larger goal of seizing the industrial region, which is made up of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, the street-by-street battle for Sievierodonetsk has become the focus of the conflict.
Smoke rises in the city of Sievierodonetsk in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on Thursday.Aris Messinis / AFP via Getty ImagesLuhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said in a Telegram post Sunday that Russian forces were “heavily shelling” parts of the city. “No one can say whether and how many victims there have been in the last 24 hours in Sievierodonetsk,” he said.
Rating: 5