Kyiv: Ukrainian defence informed on Tuesday that the Russian military is controlling the part of the city of Severodonetsk, located in eastern Ukraine. At the moment, Russia continues its strong offensive deeper into Ukraine's Donbas region, Agence France-Presse reported.
Ukrainian military official, Oleksandr Stryuk, said in a live broadcast that Ukraine forces were defending the city at present and added that "the frontline divides the city in half".
Moscow had shifted their focus from Kyiv to Ukraine's eastern regions, particularly the eastern Donbas region, annexing areas into its control. Putin's forces left Kyiv after failing to capture it in the early stages of the war.
Earlier, Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday had said that the situation in Severodonetsk was seriously complicated and admitted that parts of the city were being controlled by the Russian forces. But Ukraine's military continued keeping their control on other areas in the east Ukraine industrial city and was hampering the unrestricted mobility of Russian troops there, he said. He claimed that Russia was planning to conquer the villages surrounding the city.
Severodonetsk is important for Russia in order to annex the entire Lugansk region as well as east Ukraine's de-facto administrative centre, Kramatorsk. Before the war, Severodonetsk was populated by around 100,000 people.