‘Relentless’: Russia squeezes Ukrainian strongholds in east

Sievierodonetski and Lysychansk are the last areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk, one of two provinces that make up the region.

Russian forces on Friday pounded the last Ukrainian strongholds in a separatist-controlled eastern province of Ukraine, including a city where authorities said 1,500 people have been killed and 60% of residential buildings destroyed since the start of the war.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister warned that without a new injection of foreign weapons, Ukrainian forces would not be able to stop Russia from seizing Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk, locations that are crucial to Russia's goal of capturing all of Ukraine's industrial Donbas region.

The cities are the last areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk, one of two provinces that make up the region. Russian forces have made slow but persistent advances as they bombarded and sought to encircle both Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk.

“The Russians are pounding residential neighborhoods relentlessly,” regional governor Serhiy Haidai wrote in a Telegram post Friday. “The residents of Sievierodonetsk have forgotten when was the last time there was silence in the city for at least half an hour.” Russian shelling killed four people in the city over the past 24 hours, he said.

Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said late Thursday that at least 1,500 people have been killed in Sievierodonetsk since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. About 12,000 to 13,000 remain in the city – down from a pre-war population of about 100,000 - and 60% of residential buildings have been destroyed, he said.

Stryuk said a Russian reconnaissance and sabotage group entered a city hotel, and that the main road between neighboring Lysychansk and the city of Bakhmut to the southwest remains open, but travel is dangerous. He said only 12 people were able to be evacuated Thursday.

In Donetsk, the Donbas region's other province, Russia-backed rebels claimed Friday to have taken control of Lyman, a large railway hub north of two more key cities that remained under Ukrainian control. There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian officials.