Russia's superior firepower punishing Ukraine in the east

KYIV • Russia is using its overmatch in force ratio and artillery to gradually seize territory in and around Ukraine's Sievierodonetsk, Britain's Defence Ministry said yesterday, as heavy street fighting raged in the eastern city.

The intelligence update came as Interfax reported that Russian cruise missiles destroyed a large depot containing United States and European weapons in western Ukraine's Ternopil region.

Russia has likely started preparing to deploy the third battalion from some combat formations in recent weeks, the British Defence Ministry said in the update posted on Twitter.

The Interfax report yesterday said Russian forces had used Kalibr cruise missiles to attack the large depot. It also said Russian forces had shot down three Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jets near Donetsk and Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

The governor of the Ternopil region said a rocket attack on the city of Chortkiv, fired from the Black Sea, had partly destroyed a military facility, injuring 22 people. A local official said there were no weapons stored there.

Moscow has repeatedly slammed the US and other nations for supplying Ukraine with weapons. President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Russia would strike new targets if the West supplied longer-range missiles to Ukraine for use in high-precision mobile rocket systems.

Ukrainian leaders have renewed pleas to Western countries in recent days to speed up deliveries of heavy weapons as Russian forces pound the east of the country with artillery. Ukrainian forces have proven more resilient than expected, but the US-based Institute for the Study of War said that as they use the last of their stocks of Soviet-era weapons and munitions, they will require consistent Western support.

Sievierodonetsk has become the epicentre of the battle for control over the industrialised Donbas region in the east, made up of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.

Parts of the city have been pulverised in some of the bloodiest fighting since Moscow began its invasion on Feb 24.

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said yesterday that Ukrainian and Russian forces were still fighting street by street in Sievierodonetsk.

He said that while Russian forces have taken most of the city, Ukrainian troops remain in control of an industrial area and chemical plant where civilians are sheltering.

Ukraine has said some 800 people were hiding in bomb shelters under the Azot plant, including employees and city residents.

"No one can say whether and how many victims there have been in the last 24 hours in Sievierodonetsk, where intense fighting continues," Mr Gaidai said on the Telegram messaging app.

"Everyone wants to evacuate now, probably, but so far there is no such possibility."

In Lysychansk - Sievierodonetsk's twin city across the Donets River - a woman was killed in Russian shelling while four houses and a shopping centre were destroyed, Mr Gaidai said.

To the south and south-west of Sievierodonetsk, Russian forces were firing mortars and artillery around a number of settlements, according to a daily update from Ukraine's general staff. But it said Ukrainian forces had repulsed Russian attempts to advance towards some communities.

Amid the fighting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to Kyiv with his counterparts from France and Italy before the Group of Seven (G-7) summit at the end of this month, the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported on Saturday. It cited French and Ukrainian government sources.

None of the three leaders has been to Kyiv since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after an unannounced Ukraine visit that the executive arm's opinion on Kyiv's eligibility for EU candidate status will reflect "carefully" on the progress made by the country over the past decade, while also noting that "much still needs to be done".

"I hope in 20 years when we are looking back, we can say we did the right thing," Dr von der Leyen told a group of journalists on her way back from Kyiv late on Saturday.

The commission is expected to recommend this Friday that Ukraine be granted candidate status to join the bloc with conditions linked to the rule of law and anti-corruption measures. EU leaders will discuss the opinion on June 23-24 at a summit in Brussels and all 27 member states will need to endorse the recommendation for negotiations to start.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG