According to Ukrainian information, Russian troops have advanced into the industrial area in the heavily fought city of Sievjerodonetsk. Fighting is already going on there, wrote the governor of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajdaj, on his Telegram channel on Monday evening. Ukrainian troops therefore only control the territory of the Azot chemical plant. The surrounding towns are also under constant fire.
In the war against Ukraine, Russian troops have been concentrating for some time on capturing the Sievarodonetsk administrative center in Luhansk. On Monday morning, Ukrainian authorities admitted the loss of the village of Metjolkine, south of the city.
According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk, around 300 civilians were still staying at the Azot chemical plant. However, the situation is constantly changing, she said on Monday, according to the Ukrainian agency Ukrinform. Should the civilians seeking protection there express their wish to be evacuated, an attempt will be made to set up an escape corridor, according to Wereshchuk. On Saturday, Governor Hajdaj said the civilians did not want to be evacuated but were in constant contact.
According to the Russian agency Interfax, around 20 Ukrainian civilians were able to leave the chemical plant on Monday. They used a passage not controlled by Ukrainian troops and are now “safe,” said separatist representative Rodion Miroshnik. He also accused Ukraine of using “constant shelling” to prevent the evacuation of civilians from the region.
Unlike the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, there is said to be no extensive network of bomb shelters in Azot. The individual emergency shelters are not connected to one another, Hajdaj had said. Ukrainian defenders and civilians held out for weeks in a bunker system under the Azovstal steelworks long after Mariupol had been conquered by Russian troops./csp/DP/zb