The battle for the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk is brutal and will determine the fate of the Donbas region, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukrainian forces still hold the industrial zone and adjacent areas in the city of Severodonetsk , and the situation is "difficult but manageable", Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said on Thursday. He said defence lines were holding despite intense Russian artillery fire but that it was now impossible to evacuate people from Severodonetsk. He said about 10,000 civilians remained in the city.
