KYIV: Russia claimed on Tuesday that its forces had taken full control of residential neighbourhoods in Ukraine’s flashpoint city of Severodonetsk, after Kyiv said its troops were fighting on in the key eastern hub despite being outnumbered.

Amid stark warnings of global food shortages partly blamed on the war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Turkiye to discuss “security corridors” for Ukrainian grain to leave the country.

“The residential areas of the city of Severodonetsk have been fully liberated,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

The Russian army was still seeking to establish control over the city’s “industrial zone and the nearest settlements”, he added.

Moscow has been pushing for control of the strategic industrial hub as part of its bid to conquer a vast swathe of eastern Ukraine, but Kyiv’s forces have so far managed to hold out.

About 800 civilians have taken refuge in a chemical factory in Severodonetsk, according to a counsel to Dmytro Firtash, whose company owns the facility.

“About 800 civilians have taken refuge in the bunkers of the Azot chemical plant, owned by Dmytro Firtash’s Group DF,” Lanny J. Davis, the US lawyer to the businessman, said on the company website.

“These 800 civilians include around 200 out of the plant’s 3,000 employees and approximately 600 inhabitants of the city of Severodonetsk,” Davis added.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Ukrainian forces in the city were outnumbered and the Russians “are stronger”, as fierce street fighting raged.

Ukrainian sources noted the overwhelming superiority of Russian artillery in the area. The Ukrainian army said on Tuesday that Russian troops were preparing to attack the key city of Sloviansk in the battle for Donbas.

Thousands of civilians have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine on Feb 24.

After being repelled from other parts of the country, including Kyiv, Russia has concentrated its assault on the eastern Donbas region and had been making slow but steady progress.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2022