Local officials said Russian and Ukrainian troops were engaged in close combat in a town in eastern Ukraine.
They reported that Russian forces were “storming” the eastern town of Sievierodonetsk on Sunday and the fighting had cut electricity and mobile phone service and terrorized civilians. Sievierodonetsk has become the epicenter of Russia’s quest to conquer Ukraine’s industrial Donbass region.
Russia has also stepped up efforts to take nearby Lysychansk, where Ukrainian authorities have reported constant shelling.
The two cities are the last major areas under Ukrainian control in the province of Luhansk, which together with neighboring Donetsk constitutes Ukraine’s industrial region of Donbass.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a rare visit to the frontline in the city of Kharkiv as he sought to assert Ukraine’s position there. Ukrainian fighters pushed back Russian forces from their positions near the city, Ukraine’s second largest, several weeks ago.
“I feel boundless pride for our defenders. Every day, at the risk of their lives, they fight for the freedom of Ukraine,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app after visiting soldiers stationed in Kharkiv.
Russia continued to shell the northeastern city from afar, and explosions could be heard in the area shortly after President Zelensky’s visit. Bombings and airstrikes have destroyed more than 2,000 buildings since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
In the wider Kharkiv region, Russian troops still held about 30% of the territory, while those in kyiv had taken over another 5%, the governor added.
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