Russia Strikes Donbas, Ukraine's Defense Ministry: The Country's Fate May Be Determined There

Illustration of rescue workers trying to extinguish a fire in a Ukrainian building hit by a Russian attack. (Wikimedia Commons/dsns.gov.ua/Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Russian troops launched an all-out assault on Tuesday to encircle Ukrainian troops in the eastern twin city, a battle that could determine the success or failure of Moscow's main campaign in the industrial heart of the Donbas.

Russia is trying to seize two separatist-claimed Donbas provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, confining Ukrainian troops in an enclave on the main eastern front.

Russian troops control three cities in the Donetsk region including Svitlodarsk, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told local affiliate Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

"The situation on the (eastern) front is very difficult because the fate of the country may be being decided (there) now," said Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk.

The easternmost parts of the Ukrainian-controlled Donbas enclave, the town of Sievierodonetsk on the east bank of the Donets Siverskiy River and its sister Lysychansk on the west bank, have become important battlefields there. Russian troops advanced from three directions to surround them.

"The enemy has focused its efforts on carrying out attacks to encircle Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk," said Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, where the two cities are among the last territories still held by Ukraine.

Ukraine's military said it repelled nine Russian strikes on Tuesday in the Donbas, in which Moscow forces killed at least 14 civilians, using planes, rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, mortars and missiles. Reuters could not immediately verify the information.

The Battle of Donbas follows Russia's biggest victory in months: last week's surrender of the Ukrainian garrison at the Mariupol port after a siege in which Kyiv believed tens of thousands of civilians died.

Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol now operating out of the Russian-controlled city, said the dead were still being found in the rubble.

About 200 decomposing bodies were buried in rubble in the basement of a tall building, he said. Locals refuse to take it and Russian authorities have abandoned the site, leaving a foul smell throughout the district.

Three months after the invasion, Moscow still has a limited advantage to show its worst military losses in decades, while much of Ukraine has suffered devastation in the biggest offensive on a European country since 1945.

More than 6.5 million people have fled overseas, countless thousands have been killed and cities have been reduced to rubble.

The war has also led to food shortages and soaring prices due to sanctions and disrupted supply chains. Both Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grains and other commodities.