Ukraine says Russia using ‘all its power’ to capture eastern city

Ukraine said on Saturday its forces were managing to push back against Russian troops in fierce fighting in Severodonetsk despite Russia “throwing all its power” into capturing the strategic eastern city.

At least seven civilians were reported killed in the Lugansk region where Severodonetsk is located and in the southern city of Mykolaiv, while a revered wooden church was reported to be on fire because of the fighting.

Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in an interview posted online that the Russian forces had captured most of Severodonetsk, but that the Ukrainian military was pushing them back.

“The Russian army, as we understand, is throwing all its power, all its reserves in this direction,” said Gaiday, who on Friday claimed Ukrainian troops had managed to win back a fifth of the city.

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Russia’s army however claimed some Ukrainian military units were withdrawing from the city.

The press service of Ukraine’s presidential office said that “street fighting” was continuing in Severodonetsk and “assault operations are underway” in an industrial part of the city.

Severodonetsk is the largest city still in Ukrainian hands in the Lugansk region, where Russian forces have been gradually advancing in recent weeks after retreating or being repelled from other areas, including around the capital Kyiv.

Thousands of people have been killed, millions forced to flee and towns turned into rubble since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an all-out war on his pro-Western neighbour on February 24.

Western powers have slapped increasingly stringent sanctions on Russia and supplied arms to Ukraine but divisions have emerged on how to react.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said Putin had committed a “fundamental error” but said Russia should not be “humiliated” so that a diplomatic solution could be found.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reacted on Saturday saying such calls “only humiliate France” and any country taking a similar position.

“It is Russia that humiliates itself. We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place. This will bring peace and save lives,” he said.

Regardless of diplomatic efforts, the conflict has raged in the south and east of the country.

Ukrainian officials on Saturday announced the death of four foreign military volunteers fighting Russian forces but did not specify when or under what circumstances they died.

The International Legion of Defence of Ukraine, an official volunteer brigade, named the men and published photos of them, saying they were from Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and France.

The deaths of the two men named from the Netherlands and Australia had already been reported and France’s foreign ministry on Friday said a French volunteer fighter had been killed in combat.

Putin in a televised interview on Friday said there was “no problem” to export grain from Ukraine, via Kyiv- or Moscow-controlled ports or even through central Europe.