Fierce fighting in Eastern Ukraine: "Everything is on fire"

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 Fierce battles have engulfed Eastern Ukraine in flames, while the Russian military is still trying to control this area.


"Today, everything that can burn is on fire," Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Lugansk province in eastern Ukraine, told AP news agency on June 21.

The Russian military currently controls about 95% of the Lugansk province. However, Moscow still struggled for weeks to fully control the area, despite deploying additional troops and having a great advantage in military hardware.

Ukrainian forces are still resisting the Russian advance in the East with strong Western backing.

"Thanks to tactical operations, the Ukrainian army is strengthening its defenses in Lugansk. This is really the most difficult place right now. The enemy is also pressing hard in the direction of Donetsk," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement. speech on the night of June 21.

Zelensky warned that Russia will intensify its attacks in the East, ahead of a summit of the European Union (EU) at the weekend. At this conference, the EU is expected to discuss Ukraine's application to join the bloc.

"Just as we are fighting for a positive European Union decision on Ukraine's candidacy, we are fighting every day to have modern weapons for our country. I don't give up a single day," Zelensky said, urging countries to speed up arms deliveries to Ukraine.

In the city of Severodonetsk, a flashpoint in the fighting in the east, Ukrainian soldiers are still entrenched to control the Azot chemical plant on the outskirts of the city. About 500 civilians are also sheltering inside the factory.

Mr. Gaidai accused Russian forces of turning the area "to ruins".

"It's a complete tragedy. Our positions are being hit by artillery fire, multiple rocket launchers, large artillery and missile attacks," Gaidai said.

The war situation in Azot makes many people fear that this chemical plant will become the "second Azovstal". The situation in Severodonetsk is also reminiscent of the fighting in Mariupol, a strategic Ukrainian port city "falling" after 82 days of being attacked and surrounded by Russian forces.

The Russian Defense Ministry on June 14 called on Ukrainian soldiers inside the Azot factory to surrender their weapons, and accused Ukraine of using civilians as "living shields". Before that, more than 2,400 troops in Azovstal also surrendered, before Russian forces took over the factory.

Lysychansk, the neighboring city of Severodonetsk and the only city in the Lugansk province that is still completely under the control of Ukrainian forces, has also been the target of several air strikes.

Air strikes on Severodonetsk and Lysychansk on June 21 destroyed more than 10 residential buildings and a police station. In the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, a school was destroyed by shelling, the office of the president of Ukraine said.

Severodonetsk and Lysychansk have become a hotbed of conflict between the Russian and Ukrainian armies in recent weeks as Russia has concentrated its troops and firepower to control these two strategic cities, creating a springboard for complete control of the Donbass region, in the east. Ukraine.

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