UKRAINE
Ukraine war situation report – day 89
May 23, 2022 - Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or any territorial concessions to Russia, as Moscow forces stepped up the pounding of the Donbas regions in what Ukraine has described as a “scorched-earth” strategy.
Severodonetsk, in the eastern Luhansk region, is under “round-the-clock” indiscriminate bombardment as Russian troops attempt to encircle the city, the Ukrainian military said.
The heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine has taken a severe toll on Russia's military, British intelligence said, estimating that during the first three months of its war in Ukraine, Moscow has suffered a number of deaths similar to that experienced by the Soviet Union during its nine-year war in Afghanistan.
Russian shelling and missile strikes also kept pounding Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, in the north, as well as Mykolayiv and Zaporizhya in the south, Ukrainian officials said.