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dpa
Kiev
Russia is pursuing its siege of the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine with fresh reserve troops, according to a situation report by the Ukrainian military on Saturday.
“The enemy is undertaking attacks on the city of Severodonetsk with artillery support, it has strengthened its troops with the mobile reserves of the 2nd army corps, the fighting in the city continues,” the report said.
Russian troops attacked a suburb of the city and the region of Bakhmut, to the south of Severodonetsk, the report said.
The area around Severodonetsk is densely populated, with 380,000 people living there before the start of the war. It is the last area in the Luhansk region still held by Ukraine.
While Russian troops breached the city last week, they have not managed to conquer it entirely.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, Russian attempts to storm two villages near Sloviansk - a city about 60 kilometres away - were repelled overnight.
The Sloviansk region, home to half a million people before the war, is another important target in the Donbass for Russia. It is the site of the headquarters of the Ukrainian defence troops in the region.
Military experts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Russia had gathered around 20 tactical battalions in the Izyum region in order to advance on Sloviansk.
However, the ISW does not consider it likely that the Russian troops will make substantial gains there in the coming days.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday that Russian rockets and artillery had hit 33 Ukrainian command posts and 542 clusters of troops and military equipment over the past day, according to the TASS news agency.
It is not possible to verify the reports independently, from either the Russian or Ukrainian side.
The Ukrainian army said on Saturday that more broadly, the frontlines of the war - after nearly three-and-a-half months of fighting - were frozen.
Late on Friday, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky predicted that the war with Russia could last up to half a year longer.
“This could drag on for another two to six months,” presidential advisor Mykhailo Podoliak said in an interview with the opposition Russian portal Medusa, with the size of weapons stockpiles a key factor.
Another main factor was how the mood in Europe, Ukraine and Russia may change over time, he said.
There would only be peace negotiations, he added, if the situation on the ground changed and Russia no longer felt it could dictate the conditions.
He warned that territorial concessions to Russia would not end the war. Some cities, like Mariupol and now Severodonetsk where the fiercest fighting is taking place, effectively no longer existed, he said.
Podoliak estimated Russian losses at a total of 80,000 people so far.
This included dead and wounded among the regular army, the separatists and the mercenary force Wagner.
He said that after a disastrous initial phase of the war for Moscow, with up to 1,000 war dead per day, the current losses of Russian and Ukrainian troops were “comparable.” Zelensky had recently put Ukrainian losses at up to
100 dead and 500 wounded per day.
Kiev
Russia is pursuing its siege of the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine with fresh reserve troops, according to a situation report by the Ukrainian military on Saturday.
“The enemy is undertaking attacks on the city of Severodonetsk with artillery support, it has strengthened its troops with the mobile reserves of the 2nd army corps, the fighting in the city continues,” the report said.
Russian troops attacked a suburb of the city and the region of Bakhmut, to the south of Severodonetsk, the report said.
The area around Severodonetsk is densely populated, with 380,000 people living there before the start of the war. It is the last area in the Luhansk region still held by Ukraine.
While Russian troops breached the city last week, they have not managed to conquer it entirely.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, Russian attempts to storm two villages near Sloviansk - a city about 60 kilometres away - were repelled overnight.
The Sloviansk region, home to half a million people before the war, is another important target in the Donbass for Russia. It is the site of the headquarters of the Ukrainian defence troops in the region.
Military experts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Russia had gathered around 20 tactical battalions in the Izyum region in order to advance on Sloviansk.
However, the ISW does not consider it likely that the Russian troops will make substantial gains there in the coming days.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday that Russian rockets and artillery had hit 33 Ukrainian command posts and 542 clusters of troops and military equipment over the past day, according to the TASS news agency.
It is not possible to verify the reports independently, from either the Russian or Ukrainian side.
The Ukrainian army said on Saturday that more broadly, the frontlines of the war - after nearly three-and-a-half months of fighting - were frozen.
Late on Friday, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky predicted that the war with Russia could last up to half a year longer.
“This could drag on for another two to six months,” presidential advisor Mykhailo Podoliak said in an interview with the opposition Russian portal Medusa, with the size of weapons stockpiles a key factor.
Another main factor was how the mood in Europe, Ukraine and Russia may change over time, he said.
There would only be peace negotiations, he added, if the situation on the ground changed and Russia no longer felt it could dictate the conditions.
He warned that territorial concessions to Russia would not end the war. Some cities, like Mariupol and now Severodonetsk where the fiercest fighting is taking place, effectively no longer existed, he said.
Podoliak estimated Russian losses at a total of 80,000 people so far.
This included dead and wounded among the regular army, the separatists and the mercenary force Wagner.
He said that after a disastrous initial phase of the war for Moscow, with up to 1,000 war dead per day, the current losses of Russian and Ukrainian troops were “comparable.” Zelensky had recently put Ukrainian losses at up to
100 dead and 500 wounded per day.
