Ukraine said on Saturday it had recaptured a swathe of the battlefield city of Severodonetsk, where intense fighting continued, in a rare counter-offensive against Russia’s main assault force that had been steadily advancing in the east.
The Ukrainian claim could not be independently verified, and Moscow said its own forces were making gains there. But it was the first time Kyiv has claimed to have launched a big counter-attack in Severodonetsk after days of yielding ground there.
Severodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said street fighting continued during the day on Saturday, with both sides exchanging artillery fire.
“The situation is tense, complicated. … Our military is doing everything it can to drive the enemy out of the city,” he told national television, saying there was a shortage of food, fuel and medicine.
Follow the latest updates below.
07:29 AM
Fresh missile strikes shatter calm in Kyiv
A barrage of Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s capital early this morning, hitting unspecified “infrastructure” targets, Kyiv’s mayor said. No one was reported killed, with one person hospitalised with injuries.
But the attack shattered a sense of calm in Kyiv, which hadn’t seen similar strikes since the April 28 visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The missile strikes hit the Darnytski and Dniprovski districts in the city and that emergency services had arrived to the scene, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app. Air raid sirens had gone off around the time of the blasts.
An acrid smell of smoke filled the air in the Darnystki district of eastern Kviv, with a billowing pillar of smoke rising in the sky.
Soldiers and police blocked off a main road to the site. Smoke billowed from the charred and blackened wreckage of a warehouse-type structure.
07:29 AM
Russians ‘afraid’ to move around Severodonetsk
Russian forces have lost ground in Severodonetsk, a regional governor said Sunday.
“The Russians were in control of about 70 per cent of the city, but have been forced back over the past two days,” Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday wrote on Telegram.
“The city is divided in two. They are afraid to move freely around the city.”
07:16 AM
Churches that survived Second World War have not survived invasion, says Zelensky
Churches that managed to survive the Second World War have been destroyed by Russia’s attacks in Ukraine, says President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russia has destroyed or damaged around 113 churches since it invaded, he said. Some of them had survived Second World War, “but did not withstand Russian occupation,” he added.
On Saturday, Mr Zelensky said Russian artillery hit an early 17th century Ukrainian Orthodox monastery, engulfing a church in flames.
Russia’s defence ministry denied involvement, accusing Ukrainian troops of setting fire to the All Saints church before pulling back.
07:02 AM
Ukraine blunts Russian momentum with counterattack
Ukraine is undoing the gains made by Russian forces in concentrating combat units and firepower in the east, following a counterattack by Kyiv in Severodonetsk, according to British intelligence.
The Ministry of Defence said a Ukrainian attack over the last 24 hours in the city has likely blunted Russia’s operational momentum there.
“Russian forces committed in this area include personnel mobilised from the reserve of Russian-led Separatist Forces of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic. These troops are poorly equipped and trained, and lack heavy equipment in comparison to regular Russian units.”
06:50 AM
Street fighting erupts in Severodonetsk
The battle for Ukraine’s eastern city of Severodonetsk was being waged street by street, said President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Several explosions in Darnytsky and Dniprovsky districts of the city. Services are extinguishing,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram shortly after air raid warnings sounded in Kyiv and several other cities.
“There are currently no dead from missile strikes on infrastructure. One wounded was hospitalised. The services are still working in the affected areas.”
03:49 AM
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