JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow's massive air and artillery strikes were aimed at destroying the entire Donbas region, urging allies to speed up deliveries of heavy weapons to confront Russian forces.
The fight for the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in Ukraine's Lugansk region "entered a kind of terrifying climax", said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to President Zelensky.
The latest offensive is part of Russia's efforts to seize Lugansk and Donetsk, which make up the Donbas region, the country's industrial heartland, after failing to capture Kyiv and being pushed back.
"We must liberate our land and achieve victory, but faster, much faster," President Zelensky said in a video speech released Thursday morning.
"There was a massive air and artillery attack on the Donbas. The goal of the invaders here has not changed, they want to destroy the whole of Donbas step by step," he said.
"This is why we have repeatedly stressed the acceleration of arms deliveries to Ukraine. What is urgently needed is a balance on the battlefield to stop this evil fleet and push it beyond Ukraine's borders," President Zelensky said.
The fierce war of attrition in the Donbas was most critical in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. Ukrainian troops defend Sievierodonetsk and the nearby settlements of Zolote and Vovchoyrovka, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Thursday, adding, but Russia has captured Loskutivka and Rai-Oleksandrivka in the south.
Meanwhile, hundreds of civilians are trapped in a chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk, with Ukraine and Russia at odds over who controls the bombed city.
Moscow says Ukrainian troops in the city are surrounded and trapped. But Gaidai told Ukrainian Television on Wednesday, "Russian forces do not have complete control."
Separately in Lysychansk, Gaidai said it was "very dangerous in the city" because everything was within range of Russian fire.
"To avoid a siege, our command can order the troops to withdraw to new positions. There may be a regrouping after last night," he said.
The TASS news agency quoted Russia-backed separatists as saying Lysychansk was now under siege and cut off from supplies, after the road connecting the city to the city of Sieviersk was taken. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
The British Ministry of Defense assessed that Russian troops had likely advanced more than 5 km (3.11 miles) towards the southern approach of Lysychansk since 19 June.
"Several Ukrainian units have been withdrawn, presumably to avoid the siege," he said on Twitter.
"Russian forces are placing the Lysychansk-Sievierodonetsk enclave under increasing pressure with this creeping advance ... however, its efforts to achieve a deeper siege to take western Donetsk Oblast remain stalled," the ministry added.
Arestovych said Russian troops in both cities were conscripts of varying degrees of training after Ukraine inflicted heavy losses on Russian troops. Reuters was unable to verify his comments on Russia's losses.
"It's like two boxers wrestling with each other in the 18th round of the fight and barely able to move forward. This operation started on April 14 and has been going on for almost 80 days," he said in an online video post.
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