Ukraine claims victories in Severodonetsk as street fighting continues; Ukraine says troops holding on to Sievierodonetsk, advance in south; Sievierodonetsk battle being fought house-to-house; 2 Brits, Moroccan sentenced to death for fighting to defend Ukraine, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

Ukraine claims victories in Severodonetsk as street fighting continues

Ukrainian forces inched their way closer on Thursday to the center of Severodonetsk, the latest turn in an increasingly bloody struggle for the last unoccupied city in the northern Donbas state of Luhansk.

Ukrainian national guard commander Petro Kusyk measured the troop movement building by building.

“Yesterday was successful for us — we launched a counteroffensive and in some areas we managed to push [the Russians] back one or two blocks. In others they pushed us back, but just by a building or two,” he said in an interview on Ukrainian TV.

“Yesterday the occupiers suffered serious losses — if every day were like yesterday, this would all be over soon.”

The reported rally comes less than a day after reports that Ukrainian forces had been pushed to an industrial area on the outskirts of the town, and were considering a retreat across the Siver:skyi Donets River to the higher ground of Lysychansk. —>READ MORE HERE

Ukraine says troops holding on to Sievierodonetsk, advance in south:

Ukrainian forces claimed on Thursday to have pushed forward in intense street fighting in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, but said their only hope to turn the tide was more artillery to offset Russia’s massive firepower.

In the south, Ukraine’s defence ministry said it had captured new ground in a counter-attack in Kherson province, targeting the biggest swathe of territory Russia has seized since its invasion in February.

The battle amid the ruins of Sievierodonetsk, a small industrial city, has become one of the war’s bloodiest, with Russia concentrating its invasion force there. Both sides say they have inflicted massive casualties.

Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river are the last Ukrainian-controlled parts of Luhansk province, which Moscow is determined to seize as one of its principal war objectives. —>READ MORE HERE

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