After carrying out a military operation with the Chechen forces, the Russian forces resolved the battle of the Azot Factory and entered the city of Severodonetsk Strategy In the Lugansk region.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that the separatist forces had completely liberated the cities of Severodonetsk and Borovskoe from Ukrainian forces, with the support of the Russian army.
The ministry also indicated that the towns of Voronovo and Sirotino were liberated, which means imposing control over all areas on the northern bank of the Seversky Donets River.
In turn, Al-Arabiya / Al-Hadath correspondent stated that the Russian army chased the Ukrainian forces deep into Severodonetsk.
He added that there were reports of 100 prisoners of war following Moscow took control of the city.
On the other hand, the mayor of Severodonetsk, Oleksandr Stryuk, confirmed that the city, located in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, is completely in the hands of the Russians.
“The Russians are occupying the whole city,” he told Ukrainian television in the followingnoon.
Stryuk added that civilians began to leave the nitrogen plant, which hundreds of people have taken refuge in in recent days to avoid the bombing.
He also added that these people lived for regarding three months in shelters and lower layers, stressing that they now need medical and psychological help, according to him.
This came following Russia announced this morning, the evacuation of 800 civilians from the besieged Azot plant in the city of Lyschansk, following the Ukrainian forces left the cities of Severodonetsk and Lyschansk towards Severodsk in the form of small groups.
80 Poles killed
In addition, the Russian Defense announced that its forces had killed “up to 80 Polish fighters in eastern Ukraine, where battles are raging between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
It also added in a statement that regarding 20 armored combat vehicles, as well as 8 multiple rocket launchers “Grad” were destroyed in high-precision strikes on the “Zink Megatics Factory in Konstantinovka” in the Donetsk region, which together with Lugansk forms the Donbass region.
Those areas witnessed fierce battles during the past weeks, which led to the advance of the Russians in exchange for small withdrawals of the Ukrainians.
Ukrainian tank in the vicinity of the city of Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine (Associated Press)
It is noteworthy that since last March, Moscow launched the second phase of the military operation on the territory of its western neighbor, concentrating its battles along the front line in the south and in Donbass in particular, an eastern region consisting of Lugansk and its neighbor Donetsk.
Russia is seeking to control the entire Donbass Basin, following separatists seized control of some of its parts in 2014, with the aim of opening a land corridor linking the east with the Crimea, which it annexed to its territory in the same year.
