Russian Forces Control 80% of Eastern Strategic Point Severodonetsk

"Daily Bombing Continues... Ukrainian Forces Defending Admirably"
Previous Day, Nitric Acid Tank Explosion at Severodonetsk Chemical Plant

On the 30th (local time), thick black smoke rose in Severodonetsk, a city in Luhansk Province in eastern Ukraine, where fierce clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces continued.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] The Ukrainian side announced that Russian forces have seized 80% of Sievierodonetsk, a military stronghold on the eastern Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk regions) front in Ukraine. Sievierodonetsk is a city with a population of 100,000 and serves as a supply route for the Ukrainian military.

According to CNN on the 1st (local time), Serhiy Haidai, governor of Ukraine's Luhansk region, reported that fighting continues in eastern Sievierodonetsk, but Russian forces currently control 80% of the city.

Governor Haidai said that Ukrainian forces are fiercely fighting Russian troops attempting to encircle the southern and western residential areas of Sievierodonetsk, explaining, "Bombardments continue daily, but we can still deliver humanitarian supplies to the villages of Hirske and Lysychansk." He added, "Ukrainian forces are fighting well in some areas," and "six Russian soldiers have been captured as prisoners."

Additionally, a Ukrainian military official told CNN that Ukrainian forces hold the hilltop area near Sievierodonetsk in Lysychansk, which is militarily advantageous, and are strongly defending the city.

Meanwhile, Russian forces are currently concentrating firepower in the Donbas region. The previous day, Governor Haidai stated via Telegram that Russian forces attacked a chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk, causing a highly toxic nitric acid tank to explode, and warned, "It is dangerous, so hide and do not come out."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed strong anger over the Russian attack on the chemical plant in a speech on the same day, criticizing, "Considering that Sievierodonetsk is a key industrial city in Luhansk province and a region that mass-produces chemical products, the Russian forces' blind airstrike is nothing but madness."

However, the Russian side reportedly denied responsibility for the chemical plant explosion, claiming that Ukrainian forces were the perpetrators.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.