Russia launched a "massive bombardment" of Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday as Moscow troops launched an attack in Donetsk Oblast after gaining control of neighboring Luhansk Oblast. Said the mayor.
In a Ukrainian television interview, Mayor Vadim Lyakh first urged residents to flee. A few hours later, he turned around and advised them to hide in a shelter. Before the invasion of Russia more than four months ago, Russia's prewar population was about 107,000.
"Cannons have already hit the city," Riak warned, saying that Russian bombardment destroyed 40 homes on Monday. On Facebook, Lyakh said one person was killed on Tuesday and the other seven were injured after a bomb landed on the city's central market.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Monday that his troops ruled Luhansk Oblast, Russia's key supply points for Ukrainian troops, Sloviansk and Bakumut, moved forward in Donetsk. Next appeared in sight. It's already in control.
Ukrainian troops said Russian troops also bombed several Donetsk towns and villages near Slovyansk that day, but were repulsed as they tried to move forward toward a town about 20 km north of the city. .. Ukraine said in the south of the city, Russian troops were trying to push towards two more towns and artillery areas near Kramatorsk.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that the war in Ukraine would continue until all the goals set by Putin were achieved. However, Shoigu now states that Moscow's "top priority" is "maintaining life and health" for its troops and "eliminating threats to the safety of civilians."
In the early days of the war, Russia was unable to overthrow the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or occupy the capital Kieu, but since then in the industrialized Donbas region of the east. We have focused on hijacking.
On Tuesday, the British Department of Defense hopes that Russia will use the same tactics it adopted to occupy almost all of Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine in advancing control of Donetsk. He said he was.
"The battle over Donbus is characterized by slow progress, Russia hiring large numbers of cannons and leveling towns and cities in the process," the ministry said in a statement. rice field. "The fighting in Donetsk will almost certainly continue like this."
Putin declared victory in Luhansk on Monday as Ukrainian troops withdrew from the last base in Lysychans'k city.
Russian leaders said in Luhansk that troops that "participated in active hostilities and achieved success and victory" should "rest and improve their fighting ability."
Ukraine's Governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, told The Associated Press on Monday that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from Lysychans'k to avoid being surrounded.
"We were able to make an intensive withdrawal and evacuate all the injured," Haidai said. "Since we have regained all the equipment, the withdrawal was well organized from this point on."
Heidi tells Reuters that there is nothing significant in losing Lysychans', and Ukraine said it needed to win the overall war, not the fight for the city.
"It hurts very much, but it hasn't lost the war," he said on Monday.
Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.