KYIV, June 23(ABC): “Massive” Russian bombardment of Ukraine s battleground eastern Lugansk region and key city Severodonetsk has been “hell” for soldiers there, Kyiv said, while insisting that defenders would hold “as long as necessary”.
Moscow s troops have been pummelling eastern Ukraine for weeks and are slowly advancing, despite fierce resistance from the outgunned Ukrainian military.
With President Vladimir Putin s forces tightening their grip on the strategically important city of Severodonetsk in the Donbas, its twin city of Lysychansk is now coming under heavier bombardment.
“The Russian army is… just destroying everything” in Lysychansk, Sergiy Gaiday, governor of the Lugansk region, which includes both cities, wrote on Telegram.
“It s just hell out there,” after four months of shelling in Severodonetsk, across the Donets river, he wrote later.
“Our boys are holding their positions and will continue to hold on as long as necessary,” he added.
Pro-Russian separatists claimed they were close to surrounding both Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.
“Over the past several days enormous work has been accomplished,” Andrei Marochko, an officer in the separatist army of Lugansk, told Russian state TV.