Russia-Ukraine war: Donbas battles among ‘most brutal’ Europe has seen, Zelenskiy says

The battle for Severodonetsk will be remembered as one of the “most brutal” Europe has ever seen and is taking a “terrifying” toll on Ukraine, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday evening, as Russian forces move closer to capturing the strategic eastern city.

Mr Zelenskiy made the comment during his nightly address to the nation, noting the fighting was having a severe effect on civilians and his country’s military.

“The human cost of this battle is very high for us. It is simply terrifying. The battle for the Donbas will without doubt be remembered in military history as one of the most violent battles in Europe,” he said.

Mr Zelenskiy, who has expressed fears of losing support from the West as the conflict drags on, repeated earlier pleas for more and heavier military weapons from allies including the United States and United Kingdom: “We are dealing with absolute evil. And we have no choice but to move forward and free our territory. We draw the attention of our partners on a daily basis to the fact that only a sufficient number of modern artillery for Ukraine will ensure our advantage and finally the end of Russian torture of the Ukrainian Donbas.”

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Mr Zelenskiy reiterated Ukraine’s desire to free its entire territory and “drive the occupiers out of all our regions”.

Russian forces have cut off all last routes out of Severodonetsk by destroying all three bridges to the embattled eastern city, according to the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai.

In a video update, Mr Haidai said Russia had not “completely captured” the city and “a part of the city” was under Ukrainian control. Earlier in the day, he said Russians were continuing to storm the embattled city and “having a significant advantage in artillery” pushed back Ukrainian soldiers.

“The Russians are destroying quarter after quarter,” Mr Haidai said, adding that the Russian army had been “partially successful at night” and controlled 70 per cent of the city.

The destruction by Russian forces of the remaining two bridges over the Siverskyi Donets river over the last two days leaves stranded civilians with no escape West to the neighbouring city of Lysychansk, which is also being shelled but remains in Ukrainian hands. “Evacuation and transport of human cargo is now impossible,” Mr Haidai said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had offered Ukrainian fighters sheltering in the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk the chance to surrender on Wednesday.

Russia said on Tuesday it would open a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday to allow civilians to leave, and urged Ukrainian fighters to “stop their senseless resistance and lay down their arms” at the same time.

In the statement announcing the call to surrender, Russia’s Defence Ministry accused Ukrainian fighters of using the civilians in the Azot plant as human shields. Moscow has made similar accusations, rejected by Kyiv, several times since it sent its troops into Ukraine in February.

The Defence Ministry said it had informed Kyiv of its offer and urged the authorities to give the order to surrender.

The situation at the Azot (Nitrogen) plant echoes the battles that raged earlier in the conflict over the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol, where hundreds of fighters and civilians took shelter from Russian shelling. Those inside eventually surrendered and were taken into Russian custody in mid-May.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian authorities said they have discovered a new mass grave of civilians near Bucha in the Kyiv region. The bodies of seven civilians were found near the village of Myrotske, many with their “hands tied and their knees shot”, according to Kyiv region police chief, Andrii Niebytov. The victims had been tortured, he said in a statement.

Work is under way to exhume the bodies at the site and to identify the individuals, he added.

A war crimes investigation is under way, according to a release from Ukraine’s prosecutors office. During the investigation in the trenches, “the bodies of seven civilians with gunshot wounds and hands tied behind the back were discovered”.

Meanwhile, about 1,200 bodies, including those found in mass graves, have not yet been identified, according to the head of the national police in Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko. Criminal proceedings have been opened over the deaths of more than 12,000 Ukrainians, Mr Klymenko said. About 75 per cent of the dead are men, about 2 per cent are children and the rest are women, he said.

“In Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, Borodianka there were a lot of killed people lying right on the streets — snipers shot them from tanks, from armoured personnel carriers, despite the white armbands that the Russian military forced people to wear.”

In Bucha, 116 people were buried in one mass grave, according to Mr Klymenko. Other graves contained between five and seven bodies, he said. “Residents collected the bodies of the dead and buried them in parks.”

He added about 1,200 bodies have not been identified so far. “This is a long process, quite laborious because many bodies are in a state of decay, who were buried, shot, who could not be identified. We take DNA only from direct relatives — father, mother, children. This is the only way we work.” — Guardian