UKRAINE
Ukraine war situation report – day 118
June 21, 2022 - Ukraine sources acknowledged for the first time that Russian forces control all of the eastern city of Severodonetsk with the exception of the Azot plant, ahead of an EU summit this week expected to welcome Kyiv's bid to join the bloc.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, said Russian forces controlled most of the city, apart from the Azot chemical plant, where more than 500 civilians, including 38 children, have been sheltering for weeks. The road connecting Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk to the city of Bakhmut was under constant shell fire, he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has predicted Russia would step up attacks ahead of the EU summit on Thursday and Friday, Reuters reports.
The war has entered a brutal attritional phase in recent weeks, with Russian forces concentrating on Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Donbas, which Russia claims on behalf of separatists.