© AFP
Russian troops entered the industrial zone of the heavily besieged city of Severodonetsk. The governor of the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, Sergey Gaidai, stated that there was already fighting there. Ukrainian forces will control only the territory of the Azot chemical plant. The surrounding towns are also under constant attack.
MTMsource: BELGA
Russian forces have been aiming for some time to capture the strategically important city. Gaidai admitted earlier on Monday that Ukrainian forces had lost control of the village of Migulkin, which borders Sverodonetsk.
According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk, there are still about 300 civilians at the Azot plant. She said, although the situation is constantly changing, she said on Monday, according to the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. If the civilians entrenched there wanted to be evacuated, Vereshock said, a humanitarian corridor would be created. On Saturday, Gedayi said citizens did not want to leave.
Unlike the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, there is no extensive network of air raid shelters in Azot. Gedi said earlier that the individual emergency shelters are not connected to each other. Ukrainian fighters and civilians held out in a bunker under the Azovstal plant for weeks after Russian forces captured Mariupol.
