Russian forces take control of most of Sieverodonetsk, UK says
The U.K. defense ministry said in an intelligence update on Thursday that Russia has taken over most of Sieverodonetsk, a Ukrainian city in the Luhansk region.
The ministry said that “over half of the town is likely now occupied by Russian forces, including Chechen fighters.”
“The main road into the Sieverodonetsk pocket likely remains under Ukrainian control but Russia continues to make steady local gains, enabled by a heavy concentration of artillery,” officials added, noting that “Russian forces have sustained losses in the process.”
Luhansk’s regional governor, Serhiy Haidai, also tweeted on Wednesday that Russian forces controlled about 80 percent of the area.
Nearly 100 days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has sought to target areas used to ferry in weapons from Ukraine’s Western allies, Reuters noted in a report on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also warned the West against offering their support.
During a call with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin said the West’s help would cause “further destabilization of the situation and aggravation of the humanitarian crisis.”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has announced that it would send long-range rocket systems as part of a $700 million weapons package to Ukraine.
“We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table,” Biden said in a guest essay for The New York Times published earlier this week.
Source: TEST FEED1
