Russia Tries To Take Ukraine's Largest City Still In Control, President Zelensky: We're Doing What We Can To Contain It

Illustration of Russian soldiers entering UKraine. (Wikimedia Commons/Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - Russian troops are moving into the city of Sivierodonetsk from the outskirts, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Monday. It is the largest city still partially controlled by Kyiv in the Donbas Luhansk region, having been the focus of a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.

"Unfortunately we have disappointing news, the enemy is moving into the city," Gaidai told national television.

He further said that the neighboring city of Lysychansk was still under Ukrainian control, while the main roads to the two cities had been bombed, but were not blocked.

Having failed to capture the capital Kyiv in the early phases of the war, Russia is seeking to consolidate its grip on the Donbas, which is already largely controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.

Unlike previous stages of the war, which Moscow called a 'special military operation' to demilitarize Ukraine and get rid of the nationalists who threatened Russian-speaking people there, Russia has concentrated its firepower in a small area.

"They (Russian soldiers) used the same tactics over and over again. They fired for several hours, for three, four, five hours, in a row and then attacked. Those who attacked died. Then shot and attacked again, and so on until they broke through. somewhere," said Gaidai.

The Russian strikes killed two civilians and injured five others as their troops advanced into the southeast and northeast suburbs of the city.

President Zelensky while visiting his troops on the front line. (Source: president.gov.ua)

The incessant shelling kept Ukrainian forces defending the ruins at Sievierodonetsk, but their refusal to withdraw has slowed a massive Russian offensive across the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

"About 90 percent of the buildings were damaged. More than two-thirds of the city's housing estates have been completely destroyed. There is no telecommunications," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a televised address.

"Occupying Sievierodonetsk is a fundamental task for the occupiers. We are doing everything we can to contain this advance," he said.

Ukrainian troops in the Donbas said they held out all day on Sunday. Russian troops opened fire on 46 communities in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, killing at least three civilians, injuring two others or destroying or damaging 62 civilian buildings.

Russian shootings also continued on Sunday in areas such as Novy Buh in Mykolaiv and Sumy.

After failing to capture the capital Kyiv in the early phases of the war, Russia is trying to consolidate its grip on the Donbas, which is already largely controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.

Meanwhile, analysts at the Institute for War Studies in Washington said Russia had still not succeeded in encircling Sievierodonetsk, even though Ukrainian defenders had inflicted a "terrible victim" on them (Russia).

The Ukrainian side itself suffered serious losses, both civilians and combatants, they said in a briefing paper.

In addition, Russia's focus on Sievierodonetsk has drawn resources from other battlefields and as a result they have made little progress elsewhere.