The governor of Luhansk region, Sergey Gaidai, announced on Monday that Russian forces have advanced towards the center of the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, which has been under shelling for weeks, and where street fighting is now taking place.
"The Russians are advancing towards the center of Severodonetsk. The fighting continues, the situation is very difficult," the region's governor said on Telegram.
He stated that two people were injured both when their car was attacked, and they are now "fine", and 3 doctors are missing, according to the same source.
"Vital infrastructure in Severodonetsk has been destroyed, and 60 percent of the housing stock cannot be restored," Gaidai added.
He stressed that the road linking Severodonetsk to its neighbor Lyschansk and then to the Bakhmut road in the south is too "dangerous" to allow the evacuation of civilians and the transfer of humanitarian aid.
On Sunday, Gaidai reported a Russian attack on Severodonetsk and street fighting.
He said the situation in Lysichansk "has deteriorated significantly".
Severodonetsk, a city of 100,000 people before the war, has been bombarded by the Russian army and pro-Russian separatists who have been fighting alongside it with artillery for weeks. Dozens of civilians were killed there.
Severodonetsk and Lysychank are located more than 80 km east of Kramatorsk, which has become the administrative center of Ukraine's Donbass since Moscow-backed separatists seized the eastern part of this large basin in 2014.
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- Agencies