Russia demolishes a bridge in Severodonetsk, cutting off an escape route

*Paromita Das

According to Ukrainian officials; Russia has blown up a bridge connecting the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk to another city across the river. The bridge’s destruction has cut off a possible evacuation route for civilians.

Severodonetsk is the last major city under Ukrainian control in Donbas. Since 2014, pro-Russian separatists have controlled territory in Donbas, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine over Severodonetsk has been linked to control of Donbas. Parts of the city have been raised in some of the bloodiest battles since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
“The occupiers’ key tactical goal has not changed: they are pressing in Sievierodonetsk, where severe fighting is ongoing – literally for every metre,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address, adding that Russia’s military was attempting to deploy reserve forces to the Donbas.

He claimed that the image of a 12-year-old boy injured in a Russian attack was the enduring face representing Russia’s actions.

“These very facts will highlight how the world perceives Russia,” he said.
“Not Peter the Great, not Lev Tolstoy, but children injured and killed in Russian attacks,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks last week comparing Moscow’s military campaign to Russian Emperor Peter the Great’s 18th-century conquest of Swedish lands.

On Sunday, two armies were fighting street-to-street, according to Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province in Donbas. He stated that the Russians controlled the majority of the city, but Ukraine controlled the industrial area and the Azot chemical plant.

Civilians have sought shelter in the chemical plant.

“Around 500 civilians remain on the Azot plant’s territory in Sievierodonetsk, 40 of whom are children. Occasionally, the military is able to evacuate someone “Gaidai stated.
Gaidai claimed that Russians had destroyed a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River that connected Sievierodonetsk with its twin city of Lysychansk.

Only one of the three bridges remained standing.

“If the bridge collapses after new shelling, the city will be completely cut off. There will be no way to leave Sievierodonetsk by car “Gaidai noted the lack of a cease-fire agreement and agreed-upon evacuation routes.