After weeks of ferocious fighting, Ukrainian forces have begun retreating from a besieged city in the country's east to move to stronger positions, a regional official said Friday.
The planned withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk, the administrative center of the Luhansk region, comes after relentless Russian bombardment that has reduced most of the industrial city to rubble and cut its population from 100,0000 to 10,000. Ukrainian troops fought the Russians in house-to-house battles before retreating to the huge Azot chemical factory on the city's edge, where they remain holed up in its sprawling underground structures in which about 500 civilians also found refuge.
Russia used its numerical advantages in troops and weapons to pummel Sievierodonetsk in what has become a war of attrition, while Ukraine clamored for better and more weapons from its Western allies. Bridges to the city were destroyed, slowing the Ukrainian military's ability to resupply, reinforce and evacuate the wounded and others. Much of the city's electricity, water and communications infrastructure has been destroyed.
Ukraine's military spokesman declined to confirm the retreat order, saying government policy prevents comments on Ukrainian troop movements. A man rides a bicycle among debris in Lysychansk on June 21, 2022, as Ukraine says Russian shelling has caused"catastrophic destruction" in the eastern industrial city, which lies just across a river from Severodonetsk. Haidai noted that while the retreat is under way, some Ukrainian troops remain in Sievierodonetsk, facing Russian bombardment that has destroyed 80% of buildings.
In other battlefield reports, the Russian Defense Ministry declared Friday that four Ukrainian battalions and a unit of"foreign mercenaries" totaling about 2,000 soldiers have been"fully blocked" near Hirske and Zolote, south of Lysychansk. The claim couldn't be independently verified.
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