The Russian attack kicked off the entire eastern region of Ukraine, where the pockets of resistance denied full military control of Moscow, almost four months after the Kremlin unleashed the invasion.
“Today, everything that can burn is burning,” Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, told The Associated Press.
The Russian war has warned Ukraine of food supplies to other parts of the world and gas supplies from Russia, raising questions about the security of Western Europe.
Russian troops currently control about 95% of the Luhansk region.
However, Moscow has been struggling for weeks to completely overtake it, despite deploying additional troops and having a great advantage in military assets.
In the city of Severodonetsk, a hotspot for combat, Ukrainian defenders held the Azoth chemical plant in the industrial suburbs.
About 500 civilians have been evacuated to the factory, and Mr. Haidai said Russian troops are turning the area into “ruins.”
“This is a total catastrophe,” Haidai told AP in a written comment about the plant.
“Our position is fired from howitzers, multiple rocket launchers, large caliber cannons, and missile strikes.”
The defense of the chemical plant was reminiscent of the besieged Azovstal ironworks in the brutal city of Mariupol, where Ukrainian troops had been detained for several weeks.
The neighboring Lysychans’k, the only city in the Luhansk region that is still completely under Ukrainian control, has also been the target of multiple airstrikes.
Separately, US Attorney General Merrick Garland was visiting Ukraine on Tuesday to meet with Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktowa.
The two will discuss U.S. and international efforts to help Ukraine identify, arrest and prosecute those involved in war crimes and other atrocities, U.S. Department of Justice officials said. did.
The Office of the President of Ukraine said Tuesday that at least six civilians had died and 16 were injured in the last 24 hours.
According to its daily updates, Russian troops bombarded the northern region of Chernihiv that day, intensifying the bombardment of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
An explosion also occurred in the southern city of Mykolaiv on Tuesday morning.
Airstrikes on Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk destroyed more than 10 homes and police stations.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, the school was burned down in the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region as a result of the bombardment.
International support for the plight of Ukraine when Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov sold the Nobel Peace Prize medal for $ 103.5 million (£ 84.4 million) on Monday night, breaking the past record for the Nobel Peace Prize. Was shown again.
The auction was aimed at raising funds for Ukrainian child refugees.
Geopolitical tensions resulting from the Russian invasion have returned to Lithuania.
European Union sanctions against Moscow banned railroads from crossing the territory from Russia to the Russian outskirts of Kaliningrad earlier this month.
Kaliningrad, with a population of about 430,000, is sandwiched between the EU countries Lithuania and Poland, and is isolated from the rest of Russia.
Nikolai Patrushev, a strong secretary and hardliner of the Kremlin Security Council, visited Kaliningrad on Tuesday and vowed to respond to the ban.
“The relevant measures have been developed in an inter-ministerial format and will be adopted shortly,” Patrushev said without elaboration.
“These results will have a significant negative impact on the Lithuanian population,” he added.
Meanwhile, Russian officials have blocked the website of the British newspaper The Telegraph with an article it published, Internet rights group Roskomsvoboda reported on Tuesday.
The group said in an online statement that Russian media and Internet regulator Roskomnadzor blocked Russia’s access to what Moscow described as “fake news.”
This move has prevented some Russians from accessing the entire Telegraph website.
Telegram stories claimed that Russian troops had prepared a mobile crematorium for use in the war with Ukraine, perhaps to hide the victims of that army.
