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Battle Rages Around Syevyerodonetsk As Russians Turn To 'Scorched-Earth' Policy

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service June 06, 2022

Ukrainian forces are fighting a "fierce" battle for the control of the eastern city of Syevyerodonetsk, leaving thousands caught in the cross fire, with regional Governor Serhiy Hayday saying Russian forces have turned to "scorched-earth tactics."

Hayday said Russian shelling on June 6 was also targeting Syvevyerodonetsk's twin city of Lysychansk. He said Russia had devoted a "simply incredible" number of troops and equipment to bombarding the main access road to Lysychansk and Syevyerodonetsk, which runs between Bakhmut and Lysychansk.

Separately, the chief of Ukraine's military intelligence said fighting around Syevyerodonetsk now represented the "hottest" area of conflict in Ukraine.

General Kyrylo Budanov said Ukrainian forces were making progress against the Russians in the important eastern railway hub despite "a tenfold advantage of the enemy in artillery."

It was not possible to independently verify the claim.

Budanov "inspected the work of the Intelligence units in the city of Syevyerodonetsk," the Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate said on its official Telegram channel.

Russian troops are now targeting Slovyansk, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, and have resumed their offensive near Svyatyhorsk, some 20 kilometers north of Slovyansk, suffering losses, the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said.

Thousands of people have fled Slovyansk, a city with a prewar population of around 100,000, but some 30,000 are still inside.

British intelligence suggested on June 6 that the Russian troops' push toward Slovyansk is part of their attempted encirclement of Ukrainian forces.

Early on June 6, explosions were heard in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said in a post on the Telegram messaging service.

As the seesaw battle raged on for Syevyerodonetsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited troops in the southeastern region of Zaporyzhzhya to thank them for their service and sacrifice, his office said on June 5.

"I want to thank you for your great work, for your service, for protecting all of us, our state," Zelenskiy told his forces in a statement. He also held a moment of silence for fallen troops.

Meanwhile, Britain said it would follow Washington and send long-range missile systems to Ukraine, defying warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin against supplying Kyiv with the advanced weapons.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the M270 multiple-launch rocket system will help Ukraine defend itself against Russia. No number was cited, but according to sources quoted by the BBC there will initially be three systems.

The United States announced last week it was also supplying a HIMARS rocket system that can fire rockets precisely to a distance of up to 80 kilometers.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he would provide the HIMARS system to Ukraine after being assured it would not be used to strike targets inside Russia.

The Ukrainians had requested the longer-range systems that can hit targets up to 300 kilometers away in order to be able to strike in the rear of Russian forces, but Washington was reluctant to provide them.

The British M270 multiple launch rocket system can fire 12 surface-to-surface missiles within a minute and can strike targets within 80 kilometers with pinpoint accuracy. However, the technical description of the M270 says that, depending on munitions used, it can reach targets as far away as 300 kilometers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on June 5 that Moscow would strike new targets if Washington supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine.

Putin told Rossia-1 TV channel that if U.S. multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) were supplied to Ukraine, "we will draw appropriate conclusions from this and use our own weapons, of which we have enough, in order to strike at those facilities we are not targeting yet."

Delivering new arms to Kyiv would only "drag out the armed conflict for as long as possible," Putin said.

Explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on June 5, Ukrainian officials said.

Britain's Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on June 6 that the Russian Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles had struck rail infrastructure in Kyiv, and were "likely in an attempt disrupt the supply of Western military equipment to frontline Ukrainian units."

On the battle front, Ukraine's military said late on June 5 that a senior Kremlin-backed separatist commander had been killed in battle.

The news was first broken by Russian state media journalist Aleksandr Sladkov on June 5, who did not say precisely when and where Major General Roman Kutuzov was killed.

The Strategic Communications Administration of Ukrainian military said late on June 5 that Kutuzov had been "officially denazified and demilitarized" -- a mocking reference to Putin's declared goal of "denazifying and demilitarizing" Ukraine -- while leading an attack on a village near the town of Popasna in the Luhansk region.

Several Russian generals have been killed since the February 24 start of the invasion, though Moscow has only officially confirmed the death of four. Ukraine at one point claimed that as many as seven had been killed in the conflict, only for two of them to later turn up alive.

With reporting by Reuters, BBC, CNN, AFP, and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-kyiv- attacks-donbas/31883991.html

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.