Russia advances on Severodonetsk, troops fight in streets

Russian troops on Wednesday made progress towards gaining control of Severodonetsk, a major city in Ukraine's Luhansk province. Luhansk governor Sergiy Gaiday said that Russians had taken control of 70 per cent of the city and Ukrainian forces are withdrawing to prepared positions.

"If in two or three days, the Russians take control of Severodonetsk, they will install artillery and mortars and will bombard more intensely Lysychansk," the Ukrainian-held city across the river, he said on Telegram.

After failing to capture Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Russia has focussed its firepower on the eastern Donbas region where Russia supports proxy separatist elements. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that eastern campaign has had high cost with 60 to 100 soldiers dying each day.

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"The situation in the east is very difficult," Zelensky told US newsgroup Newsmax.

With only Lysychansk remaining a pocket of resistance in the eastern Lugansk region, Severodonetsk has become a target of massive Russian firepower.

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Oleksander Motuzianyk, spokesman for Ukraine's defence ministry, said there was fighting in the streets in Severodonetsk and the Russians had reached the city centre.

"The Ukrainian armed forces are actively resisting them," he said.

In a boost for the outgunned Ukrainian military, President Joe Biden confirmed that longer-range weapons were on the way.

The new weapon is the Himars multiple launch rocket system, or MLRS, a mobile unit that can simultaneously launch multiple precision-guided missiles up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) away.

(With inputs from agencies)

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