Russians destroy last bridge to Shevyerodonetsk: “Impossible to evacuate civilians or deliver goods” | Abroad

Hajdaj said on Telegram that there is still an access road, but did not provide further details on where it is located. Part of the city is still in Ukrainian hands, he says, although Russia has won most of it. The head of the city administration, Oleksandr Striouk, also said on Ukrainian television that Shevyerodonetsk is “not isolated” and Ukrainian troops are not blocked. However, according to reports, about 70 percent of the city has been captured by the Russians, the BBC reports. Yesterday the Ukrainian army was driven from the center.

The residents who have remained in the city live in “extremely difficult circumstances”, according to the governor. In addition, fierce battles are still taking place.

The capture of the city is seen by Russia as crucial to the plans in eastern Ukraine. Shevyerodonetsk and Lisichiansk, which lies next to it, are the last two cities in the region not yet under Russian control.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the human toll of the capture of Shevyerodonetsk “horrible”. He also said that Ukrainian armed forces are fighting “for literally every meter” of the city. “The battles in the Donbas will go down in military history as the most brutal battles in Europe,” the president said.

Pro-Russian rebel leader Eduard Basurin said the Ukrainian soldiers still in the city must “surrender or die”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow’s goal is to protect the self-declared people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. “In general, the main objective of the special military operation is to protect the republics,” he said.

Yesterday, Ukrainian authorities reported that weapons supplied by the west are not arriving soon enough. A senior presidential adviser to President Zelensky said the Ukrainian military “needs heavy weapons” to end the war and shared a list of military equipment he believes Kiev should receive.