LVIV, Ukraine – Days after Ukrainian officials confirmed their troops had withdrawn from the devastated industrial city of Sievierodonetsk, the exiled mayor of the city on Monday painted a bleak picture of life for those who remain there, in a pocket in the east where Russian troops have drawn their attention in recent weeks.
“There is no good news I can share with you,” the mayor, Oleksandr Striuk, said at a morning press conference as he described a Russian-occupied city that was battered and in places leveled by artillery fire.
About 7,000 to 8,000 civilians, out of a pre-war population of 160,000, were still in the city when it fell to Russian troops on Friday, Mr. Strik, based on information from sources still inside. Their humanitarian situation is deplorable, infrastructure has been destroyed and there is a shortage of clean water and food.
About 90 percent of the city’s buildings have been destroyed, Ukrainian officials said earlier.
Ukrainian forces have retreated west toward Lysychansk, the twin city across the Siversky Donets River. But with no bridges left standing, they had to use whatever materials they could find in Sievierodonetsk to retreat, Mr. bow.
He and other local officials were forced to flee elsewhere in Ukraine as the situation worsened. Those who remain will probably only be allowed to evacuate to Russian-occupied cities, as has been the case in other conquered areas.
A certain symbolic importance had been attached to Sievierodonetsk, the mayor acknowledged, and it had become a regional administrative center in Luhansk province after pro-Russian separatists took over part of the region in 2014.
He also said that Russian forces are now likely to focus their efforts on Lysychansk, the last city in Luhansk to remain in Ukrainian hands.
After giving up their thwarted attempt to take Kiev early in the war, Russian forces have attempted to claim full control of Donbas, the eastern region that includes the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces where their separatist allies already held territory.
On Monday, Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, called on citizens to evacuate Lysychansk, calling the situation “very difficult”.
“Due to the real threat to life and health, we are calling for an immediate evacuation,” he said in a post on the social messaging app Telegram. “Save yourself and your loved ones. Take care of the kids. Make sure you are taken care of in the evacuation towns on the territory of Ukraine.”