7 June 2022 04:59 am
Ukrainian and Russian troops fought street-by-street to win control of the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk on Monday in the pivotal battle of the Kremlin’s eastern Ukraine offensive.
Which side had the upper hand was unclear as the hours passed. Russian forces had the numerical advantage but Ukraine had “every chance” to fight back, according to Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskiy.
Ukrainian fighters had over the weekend pushed back Russian forces just as they appeared to be on the verge of victory, but the Ukrainian position had again become more perilous on Monday morning, Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said. City mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said street fighting was raging and neither side was preparing to withdraw.
Meanwhile some 50 projectiles fired by a multiple rocket launcher have dropped on the city of Donetsk, RT reported Monday where the strikes are said to have hit the Kalininsk neighbourhood of the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
DPR self-defence claimed on Telegram that the barrages of Grad rockets were coming from Avdeevka, which is controlled by Ukrainian forces. Local authorities previously said that the city’s Lenin neighbourhood also had been targeted by apparent Ukrainian fire on Monday.
Reports of heavy Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk have been coming virtually on a daily basis since last week. DPR officials claim that Ukrainian troops are attacking the city indiscriminately out of spite for the defeats they suffered recently on the battlefield.
Ukarine June 6 /Reuters/Rt.com