Serhiy Hayday, the head of the Luhansk region military administration, says there is "good news" from the city of Severodonetsk, which has been under Russian bombardment for weeks, APA reports citing CNN.
In a post on his Telegram channel, Hayday says: "Our Armed Forces have cleared up half of the city. Half of the city is really controlled by our defenders." Last week, Hayday said that Russian forces held about 80% of Severodonetsk, but Ukrainian forces have clawed back parts of the city in street fighting since then.
Hayday says he expects Russian forces to redouble their efforts to take the city in the next few days by using heavy artillery.
"They have no other tactics," he said "They cannot fight in another way."
Hayday said there are approximately 15,000 civilians still in Severodonetsk. "Now evacuation is impossible because of constant fighting," he said.
"Even though we officially stopped the evacuation, today, we managed to evacuate 98 people from Lysychansk together with the help of volunteers, the State Emergency Service and the National Police," he said.
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