Severodonetsk: Zelensky ties fate of east Ukraine to battle for city

BBC News:-

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that fighting for the city of Severodonetsk may decide the outcome of the war in the east of the country.

“In many respects, the fate of the Donbas is being decided there,” he said as combat raged in the industrial belt with Russian and separatist forces.

He said his troops were inflicting major losses on enemy forces.

But Ukrainian forces have been pushed back to the outskirts, according to the region’s top Ukrainian official.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region (which makes up the Donbas along with the neighbouring Donetsk region), said special forces had pulled back after Russia “started levelling the area with shelling and air strikes”.

“Our [forces] now again control only the outskirts of the city,” he told local media. “But the fighting is still going on, our [forces] are defending Severodonetsk.”

“It is impossible to say the Russians completely control the city,” he added.

Some 15,000 civilians remained in Severodonetsk and the nearby city of Lysychansk, the governor said.