• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Film/TV/Stream
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Tech/Science
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox

Russia destroys bridge over Ukrainian river, cutting escape route

Towleroad June 12, 2022 Leave a Comment

Published by
Reuters
585420 origin 1

By Natalia Zinets and Max Hunder

KYIV (Reuters) – Russian forces have blown up a bridge linking the embattled Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk to another city across the river, cutting off a possible evacuation route for civilians, local officials said on Sunday.

Sievierodonetsk has become the epicentre of the battle for control over Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas. Parts of the city have been pulverised in some of the bloodiest fighting since the Kremlin unleashed its invasion on Feb. 24.

Ukrainian and Russian forces were still fighting street-by-street there on Sunday, the governor of Luhansk province, Serhiy Gaidai, said.

Russian forces have taken most of the city but Ukrainian troops remain in control of an industrial area and chemical plant where hundreds of civilians are sheltering.

But the Russians had destroyed a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River linking Sievierodonetsk with its twin city of Lysychansk, Gaidai said.

That leaves just one of three bridges still standing, and reduces the number of routes that could be used to evacuate civilians or for Ukrainian troops to withdraw to positions on the western side of the river.

In Lysychansk itself, Russian shelling killed one woman and destroyed four houses and a shopping centre, Gaidai said.

The head of the Sievierodonetsk administration said a little more than a third of the city remained under the control of Ukrainian forces and about two-thirds were in Russian hands.

“Our (forces) are holding the defensive line strongly,” Oleksandr Stryuk told national TV.

ACROSS THE RIVER

After being forced to scale back its initial campaign goals following its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has turned its attention to expanding control in the Donbas, where pro-Russian separatists have held a swathe of territory since 2014.

Sievierodonetsk is the last city in Donbas’s Luhansk province still held by Ukraine and its loss would be significant strategic blow. Victory for the Russians would move them a big step closer to one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated goals in what he calls a “special military operation”.

Elsewhere, Russian cruise missiles destroyed a large depot containing U.S. and European weapons in western Ukraine’s Ternopil region, Russia’s Interfax agency reported.

Ternopil’s governor said rockets fired from the Black Sea at the city of Chortkiv had partly destroyed a military facility and injured 22 people. A local official said there were no weapons stored there.

Reuters could not independently confirm the differing accounts.

Moscow has repeatedly criticised the United States and other nations for supplying Ukraine with weapons. Putin said earlier this month that Russia would strike new targets if the West supplied longer-range missiles to Ukraine for use in high-precision mobile rocket systems.

Ukrainian leaders have renewed pleas to Western countries in recent days to speed up deliveries of heavy weapons as Russian artillery pounds the east of the country.

To the south and southwest of Sievierodonetsk, Russian forces were firing mortars and artillery around a number of settlements, according to Ukraine’s general staff. But it said Ukrainian forces had repulsed Russian attempts to advance towards some communities.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Ukrainian forces have proven more resilient than expected, but the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said that as they use the last of their stocks of Soviet-era weapons and munitions, they will require consistent Western support.

Putin says Russia’s actions aim to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked war of aggression to capture territory.

Also on Sunday, the leader of the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk region in the Donbas said there was no reason to pardon two British nationals who were sentenced to death last week after being captured while fighting for Ukraine.

A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic on Thursday found Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner – and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun – guilty of “mercenary activities” seeking to overthrow the republic.

Britain says Aslin and Pinner were regular soldiers and should be exempt under the Geneva Conventions from prosecution for participation in hostilities. The separatists say they committed grave crimes and have a month to appeal.

“I don’t see any grounds, prerequisites, for me to come out with such a decision on a pardon,” Denis Pushilin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Aslin’s family said he and Pinner “are not, and never were, mercenaries”.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk, Additional reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Kim Coghill and Angus MacSwan; Editing by William Mallard and Frances Kerry)

585420 585420 origin 1 1
585420 585420 origin 1 2
585420 585420 origin 1 3
585420 585420 origin 1 4
585420 585420 origin 1 5
585420 585420 origin 1 6
585420 585420 origin 1 7

Topics: A News, Aaon, Military, Shopping, World More Posts About: Donbas, Donets, Kyiv, Reuters, Sievierodonetsk

Related Posts
  • Four takeaways from the sixth day of Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot hearings
  • Trump wanted to join Jan. 6 Capitol riot, tried to grab limo steering wheel
  • Americans’ approval of Supreme Court drops after abortion decision-Reuters/Ipsos
  • Meri & Kody Brown’s Only Child Leon Comes Out As Transgender

    Meri & Kody Brown’s Only Child Leon Comes Out As Transgender

    Published by OK Magazine @therealmeribrown/instagram;@mariahbrwn/instagram The famous offspring of Meri and Kody Brown is sharing their truth. On Tuesday, June 28, Sister Wives star Leon Brown came out as transgender, opening up about their journey to …Read More »
  • Americans’ approval of Supreme Court drops after abortion decision-Reuters/Ipsos

    Americans’ approval of Supreme Court drops after abortion decision-Reuters/Ipsos

    Published by Reuters By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A majority of Americans hold a negative opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court following its decision last week to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that recognized …Read More »
  • Steve-O: Jackass was a bad influence

    Steve-O: Jackass was a bad influence

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Steve-O admits ‘Jackass’ was a “bad influence” on kids. The hit MTV series – which later became a film franchise – saw the 48-year-old star and his fellow cast members, including …Read More »
  • US Capitol assault panel to hear from key White House aide

    US Capitol assault panel to hear from key White House aide

    Published by AFP Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has already featured in videotaped depositions at two of the committee's hearings Washington (AFP) – A former top White House aide with unique access to Donald Trump …Read More »
Previous Post: « Bipartisan U.S. Senate group unveils framework on gun safety reform
Next Post: Dorsey Has a Plan to Free the Internet from Google, Wealthy Investors »

Primary Sidebar

News

  • Four takeaways from the sixth day of Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot hearings

    Four takeaways from the sixth day of Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot hearings

  • Trump wanted to join Jan. 6 Capitol riot, tried to grab limo steering wheel

    Trump wanted to join Jan. 6 Capitol riot, tried to grab limo steering wheel

  • Ghislaine Maxwell’s sentencing hearing for sex trafficking kicks off

    Ghislaine Maxwell’s sentencing hearing for sex trafficking kicks off

RSS Partner Links

  • Morning Wood
  • NYC Pride March 2022: That's Progress
  • Brody Jenner Reveals How He Reacted to 'The Hills: New Beginnings' Getting Canceled
  • Serena Williams Speaks Out After Her Wimbledon Loss
  • KP: The video of Prince William confronting a photographer is a ‘breach of privacy’
  • “‘Top Gun: Maverick’ has made over a $1 billion worldwide” links
  • Winona Ryder Makes Rare Comments About Partner Scott Mackinlay Hahn & How They Connect 'On So Many Levels'

Most Recent

  • Todd Chrisley Dropped From Beckett’s Spirits Partnership Following Fraud Conviction

    Todd Chrisley Dropped From Beckett’s Spirits Partnership Following Fraud Conviction

  • Meri & Kody Brown’s Only Child Leon Comes Out As Transgender

    Meri & Kody Brown’s Only Child Leon Comes Out As Transgender

  • Americans’ approval of Supreme Court drops after abortion decision-Reuters/Ipsos

    Americans’ approval of Supreme Court drops after abortion decision-Reuters/Ipsos

  • Steve-O: Jackass was a bad influence

    Steve-O: Jackass was a bad influence

  • US Capitol assault panel to hear from key White House aide

    US Capitol assault panel to hear from key White House aide

  • Mac Engel: If you support HS coach who prayed after game, then then you must back Colin Kaepernick

    Mac Engel: If you support HS coach who prayed after game, then then you must back Colin Kaepernick

  • Cara Delevingne loves being able to ‘represent’ the gay community

    Cara Delevingne loves being able to ‘represent’ the gay community

  • US abortion ruling roils midterm election campaign

    US abortion ruling roils midterm election campaign

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy
[towleroadmr] [towleroadtn]

Footer

Copyright © 2022 · Log in