Ukrainian forces pushed back from center of Severodonetsk

Issued on: 06/13/2022 – 06:48

9:45am: Industrial zone sheltering civilians under fire

An industrial zone in Severodonetsk where about 500 civilians are sheltering is under heavy artillery fire from Russian forces, the regional governor said on Monday.

Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine that includes Severodonetsk, said on Facebook that Russian forces controlled about 70 percent of the city and fighting there was fierce.

8:55am: Ukrainian forces pushed back from center of Severodonetsk

Ukraine said on Monday that its forces have been pushed back from the center of the eastern city of Severodonetsk.

The enemy, with support of artillery, carried out assault operations in the city of Severodonetsk, had partial success, pushed our units away from the city centre, the Ukrainian military said on Facebook.

Severodonetsk has become the epicenter of the wider battle for control over Ukraines eastern Donbas region. Russian forces have taken most of Severodonetsk, having pulverized parts of the city in one of the bloodiest assaults since the Kremlin unleashed its invasion on February 24.

7:29am: Former Russian PM says Putin is out of it

Mikhail Kasyanov, Russian prime minister between 2000 and 2004 and now a member of the opposition, said in an interview with AFP that Putins war on Ukraine has convinced him that: Putin is already out of it. Not in a medical sense but in political terms.

I knew a different Putin, he said.

Kasyanov also predicted the war could last for up to two years and that it is imperative that Ukraine wins. If Ukraine falls, the Baltic states will be next.

5:57am: Russia destroys bridge in Severodonetsk, leaving civilians only one way out

Russia on Sunday destroyed a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River linking Severodonetsk with its twin city of Lysychansk. Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk province, said that means that only one of the citys three bridges are still standing.

If after new shelling the bridge collapses, the city will truly be cut off. There will be no way of leaving Severodonetsk in a vehicle, he said, noting the lack of a cease-fire agreement and no agreed evacuation corridors.

About 500 civilians remain on the territory of the Azot plant in Severodonetsk, 40 of them are children. Sometimes the military manages to evacuate someone, Gaidai said.

3:15am: Amnesty accuses Russia of war crimes in Kharkiv

Amnesty International on Monday accused Russia of war crimes in Ukrainesaying attacks on Kharkiv, many using banned cluster bombs, had killed 606 civilians so far, and wounded 1,248 others..

People have been killed in their homes and in the streets, in playgrounds and in cemeteries, while queuing for humanitarian aid, or shopping for food and medicine, said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty Internationals Senior Crisis Response Adviser. The Russian forces responsible for these horrific attacks must be held accountable.

The report details how Russian forces began targeting civilian areas of Kharkiv on the first day of the invasion on February 24.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS andAFP)