Smoke rises from shelling near a pile of mine waste in Lisichansk, Ukraine, on the 18th. [사진 제공: 연합뉴스]
Ukrainian forces have defeated a Russian attack on villages near the eastern city of Severodonetsk.
The Ukrainian military said on its Facebook page, “Our unit has stopped the attack in the Toshikivka region” and that “the enemy is retreating and reassessing”.
He added that Russian forces also raided the village of Orikhov, but this too was successfully repelled.
Russian and Ukrainian forces have been fighting fiercely for weeks in the eastern fortified town of Severodonetsk, a Ukrainian official claiming that the entire Severodonetsk area is under Russian control is a lie, but has admitted that much of the area is still under Russian control.
Rumors also reported that Russian forces were approaching the second city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine and reattempting bombardment.
“Russia is trying to turn Kharkiv into a front line,” Vadim Denisenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, told Ukrainian state broadcaster that the situation in northern Kharkiv is very difficult.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the Iskander missile hit a tank repair plant in Kharkiv.
