KYIV
\nUkrainian forces struggled to hold their ground in bloody street-to-street fighting in the eastern frontline city of Sievierodonetsk as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation was difficult, also pledging to retake Russia\u2019s gains.
\nThe days-long battle for the industrial city has emerged as pivotal, with Russia focusing its offensive might in the hope of achieving one of its stated aims – to fully capture surrounding Luhansk province on behalf of Russian-speaking separatists.
\n\u201cWe have to achieve a full deoccupation of our entire territory,\u201d Zelenskiy said by video link at an event hosted by Britain\u2019s Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday.
\nAsked about comments by France\u2019s Emmanuel Macron that it was important not to \u201chumiliate\u201d Moscow, interpreted in Ukraine as implying some demands must be accepted, Zelenskiy said: \u201cWe are not going to humiliate anyone, we are going to respond in kind.\u201d
\nThe governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, said the defenders were finding it hard to repel Russian attacks in the centre of Sievierodonetsk.
\nSievierodonetsk, Lysychansk, and Popasna remain the most difficult places, Zelenskiy said late on Tuesday.
\nMoscow said its troops have been advancing, while Zelenskiy said the \u201cheroic defence\u201d of Donbas was ongoing. Reuters could not independently verify the situation on the ground.
\nSince being pushed back from Kyiv and Kharkiv, Russia has focused on the region known as the Donbas, comprised of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, and closest to the Russian border.
\nMoscow says it is engaged in a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d to disarm and \u201cdenazify\u201d its neighbour. Ukraine and allies call this a baseless pretext for a war that has killed thousands, flattened cities and forced millions of people to flee. Zelenskiy said Ukraine would launch next week a \u201cBook of Executioners\u201d to detail war crimes.
\n\u201cThese are concrete facts about concrete individuals guilty of concrete cruel crimes against Ukrainians,\u201d he said.
\nRussia says it has gone out of its way to avoid targeting civilians in its operation in Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV Ukrainian forces struggled to hold their ground in bloody street-to-street fighting in the eastern frontline city of Sievierodonetsk as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation was difficult, also pledging to retake Russia\u2019s gains. The days-long battle for the industrial city has emerged as pivotal, with Russia focusing its offensive might in the hope of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4022,456,8298],"class_list":{"0":"post-265145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-battle","9":"tag-ukraine","10":"tag-zelenskiy"},"yoast_head":"\n