The Ukrainian General Staff has admitted defeat in the battle for Sieverodonetsk. The last bridge is destroyed – evacuation is impossible. Heavy Ukrainian shelling continues in occupied Donetsk. All news about the attack on Ukraine can be found here in the ticker.
11:23 a.m .: According to Ukrainian information, thousands of civilians are still in the city of Sievjerodonetsk, which has been heavily fought over for weeks. “Of the 100,000 inhabitants, about 10,000 are still there, not counting the victims,” said the governor of the Donbass subregion of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajday, on Thursday in the online service Telegram. The Ukrainian army is “holding back the enemy as best it can”.
The Russian army is losing “hundreds of fighters” there, but is always bringing new supplies. They “continue the destruction of Sieverodonetsk”. It is the last major city in the Luhansk region that Russia has not yet conquered.
Sieverodonetsk and the city of Lysychansk on the other side of the river Siverskyi Donets have been under heavy shelling for weeks. In Sievjerodonetsk there are also regular street fights.
10.37 a.m .: The air alarm, which was triggered shortly after Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Kyiv, was canceled after around half an hour. This was confirmed by a reporter from the German Press Agency on Thursday. The sirens went off shortly after Scholz arrived in Kyiv on a train with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. In the meantime, there have also been air alerts in numerous other parts of the country.
10.17 a.m .: Two Americans who traveled to Ukraine as volunteer fighters are missing. According to relatives and US lawmakers on Wednesday (local time), the two men from the US state of Alabama could have been captured by Russia. Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Huynh had fought as volunteers for the Ukrainian armed forces and were recently involved in battles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Drueke’s mother contacted her after losing contact with her son, said Terri Sewell, the Alabama representative in the House of Representatives. Bunny Drueke told the US broadcaster CNN that her son, a former soldier, was allegedly taken prisoner. However, this has not yet been confirmed.
Andy Tai Huynh’s family have also had no contact with him since June 8, Sewell’s MP Robert Aderholt reported. Most recently, the former marine was in the Kharkiv region.
A spokesman for the US State Department said the government was informed. Information according to which the US citizens were arrested has not yet been confirmed. White House spokesman John Kirby called on US citizens not to travel to Ukraine as volunteer combatants. “If you want to support Ukraine, you can do it in many other ways,” he said.
9.50 a.m .: Shortly after Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, an air alarm was triggered in the Ukrainian capital. This was confirmed by a reporter from the German Press Agency on site. French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi also arrived in Kyiv by train with Scholz. There were also air alerts in numerous other parts of the country.
Scholz, Macron and Draghi traveled to the Ukrainian capital on a special train that morning. There they want to talk to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about further support for the country attacked by Russia and about Ukraine’s desire to be admitted to the EU. Shortly afterwards, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis announced that he had also arrived in Kyiv.
9:41 a.m .: In eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian troops continue to fight heavily in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. In the direction of the city of Bakhmut, there are Russian attacks “to improve the tactical situation,” the Ukrainian general staff announced on Facebook on Thursday. The towns of Wessele, Soledar, Berestowe and Vowchojarivka were under artillery fire. There is also heavy fighting in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk. The Russians are also attempting to attack in the direction of Sloviansk.
In the neighboring Luhansk region, the city of Sievjerodonetsk was particularly hotly contested. Part of the industrial city is still under Ukrainian control. There was also artillery shelling on sections of the front in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
Ukraine has now been defending itself against the war of aggression launched by Russia for almost four months. The United Nations has so far recorded more than 4,400 civilian deaths, but – like Kyiv – assumes the number of civilian casualties to be far higher.
2:08 p.m .: According to their own statements, the Russian military has destroyed an ammunition depot stocked by NATO countries in western Ukraine. The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, said on Wednesday in Moscow that missiles for M777 howitzers, among other things, were destroyed with rockets in the Lviv region. In the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk, a large number of weapons and military equipment from the United States and European countries that had been handed over to the Ukrainian armed forces were destroyed at railway facilities.
The ministry also reported attacks in other parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Military equipment – including tanks, multiple rocket launchers and M777 howitzers – was destroyed in airstrikes, including in the Kharkiv region, it said. A total of 300 Ukrainian fighters were also killed in the operations. The information could not be verified by an independent party.
1:33 p.m .: The battle for the strategically important cities of Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk is currently raging in the Donbass. Since the Donbass is a declared Russian target, Putin could announce a major success here for the first time.
Western secret services and military officials also assess the situation as a “central moment of the war”. This is reported by the US broadcaster “CNN”, citing several secret service sources. According to this, the war is in a phase that could help decide the long-term outcome.
A phase in which the Ukrainian military has to fire ammunition that dates back to the Soviet era. In which Selenksky begs the West for heavy weapons. And in which Russia accumulates a large artillery advantage in the battle for Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk.
Western intelligence officials see three scenarios that could emerge from this “pivotal” phase of the war. Russia could continue to make incremental advances in the two key provinces to the east. Also, the fronts could harden into a stalemate that lasts for months or years, leading to huge losses on both sides and a slow-moving crisis that will further weigh on the global economy.
The secret service officials see a third option, albeit the most unlikely one at the moment: Russia could redefine its war goals, announce victory and try to bring the fighting to an end. For now, that scenario seems little more than wishful thinking, sources say.
Surf tip: Olexij Arestowitsch – Oracle of Kyiv: This is how the war against Russia will end
11:49 a.m .: According to “Bloomberg”, Russia will slow down its “special operation” in a few months in order to carry out a major reorganization. Since the country has already used up many of its military capacities, it is currently looking for soldiers and weapons. Among them would be old tanks from the Far East, the medium explained, citing high-ranking European officials. In addition, Moscow could soon be forced to announce a mass mobilization in order to be able to continue the war.
9:20 a.m .: In eastern Ukraine, fighting continues for the city of Sievjerodonetsk and other places in the Luhansk region. “It’s getting harder, but our soldiers are stopping the enemy on three sides at once. They are protecting Sieverodonetsk and not allowing any advance to Lysychansk,” Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haiday said on Wednesday on his Telegram news channel blog.
Lysychansk, where Hajday says the number of casualties has been high, is on a river across from Sieverodonetsk, which is already largely controlled by Russian troops. The bridges between the two cities are destroyed.
The Russians continued to shell houses and again attacked the Azot chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk, Hajday said. “The enemy is weaker in street fighting, so he opens artillery fire, which destroys our houses,” he said. There is also severe damage in the surrounding villages. There have also been Russian airstrikes in many places.
The governor initially did not comment on the humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of the Azot chemical plant announced by the Russian side for Wednesday morning. More than 500 civilians are suspected in the bunkers of the industrial plant.
8:20 a.m.: The Ukrainian military has destroyed over 60 military equipment belonging to Russian troops. According to the Kyiv Independent, the Ukrainian Operations Command “South” destroyed three howitzers, 19 armored vehicles and 33 other vehicles in the Cherson Oblast in the south of the country. In addition, the Russian units lost two ammunition depots.
Wednesday, June 15, 7:09 am: Ukraine will not use long-range weapons to attack Russia. This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. If the West supplies the country with such weapons, they will not be used in residential areas in Russia. “We are not terrorists,” stressed Zelenskyy. The long-range weapons would only be used to liberate Ukrainian territories.
10:30 p.m .: According to Kiev military information, Russian troops carried out assaults in several places in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. In the city of Sievjerodonetsk, fighting continued for every street, the Ukrainian general staff announced in the evening. The enemy is regrouping its troops and trying to bring in reinforcements.
2:34 p.m .: According to the Interfax news agency, the Russian Ministry of Defense has offered the Ukrainian fighters who have entrenched themselves in the Azot chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk the opportunity to surrender. The ministry says Ukraine has asked Russia to set up an evacuation corridor to allow civilians to leave the plant. According to Ukrainian information, there is no way out for the residents of the city, which has been heavily fought over for weeks.
12:47 p.m .: In the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, fighting for the city of Sieverodonetsk continues. The situation around the local chemical plant Azot is particularly difficult, said the head of the city’s military administration, Olexander Strjuk, on Ukrainian television on Tuesday. Around 540 to 560 civilians are said to be staying in bomb shelters on the factory premises. “Certain stocks were created at the Azot plant,” Strjuk said. In addition, the police and military provided as much help as possible. The area is under constant fire.
Stryuk also confirmed the destruction of the third and final bridge across the Seversky Donets River. He also spoke of ongoing street fighting between Ukrainian and Russian units.
You can read more reports on the Ukraine conflict on the following pages.
