Ukraine pleads for western help as Russian advance continues in Donbas

Russian forces pounded the last Ukrainian strongholds as they surrounded the towns of Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk in the Donbas, officials said on Friday.

As many as 1,500 people have been killed in fighting in the separatist-controlled eastern Ukrainian province, officials added, as Kyiv made an urgent plea for more weapons from western allies.

Ukraine’s foreign minister warned that without a new injection of foreign weapons, its forces would not be able to stop Russia from seizing Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.

The cities are the last areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk, one of two provinces that make up the Donbas region.

“The Russians are pounding residential neighbourhoods relentlessly,” regional governor Serhiy Haidai wrote in a Telegram post. “The residents of Sievierodonetsk have forgotten when was the last time there was silence in the city for at least half an hour.”

Up to 13,000 remain in the city – down from a pre-war population of about 100,000 – and 60 per cent of residential buildings have been destroyed said Sievierodonetsk’s mayor.

In Donetsk, the other province in the Donbas, Russia-backed rebels claimed on Friday to have taken control of Lyman, a large railway town. Before the war, Lyman had a population of around 20,000.

Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, appeared to confirm the fall of Lyman and said the battle there showed that Moscow was improving its tactics.

“According to unverified data, we lost the town of Lyman,” Mr Arestovych said. “This shows, in principle, the increased level of operational management and tactical skills of the Russian army.”

In the nearby town of Popsana, Reuters spoke to one resident who had been sheltering from shelling for days. Natalia Kovalenko had finally emerged from the cellar where she had been sheltering with dogs and cats.

“We are tired of being so scared. So tired.”

With Ukraine’s hopes of stopping the Russian advance fading, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba pleaded with western nations to provide his country with more weapons so its defenders were equipped to “push [the Russian forces] back”.

He added: “We need heavy weapons. The only position where Russia is better than us, it’s the amount of heavy weapons they have. Without artillery, without multiple-launch rocket systems we won’t be able to push them back,” Mr Kuleba said in a video posted on Twitter.

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He said the situation in the east was “even worse than people say... If you really care for Ukraine, weapons, weapons and weapons again”.

The gloomy prognosis was echoed by British prime ministerBoris Johnson, who, said Russia was making “palpable progress” in the Donbas.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV, Mr Johnson said: “I think it’s very, very important that we do not get lulled, because of the incredible heroism of the Ukrainians in pushing the Russians back from the gates of Kyiv.

“I’m afraid that Putin – at great cost to himself and to the Russian military – is continuing to chew through ground in Donbas. He’s continuing to make gradual, slow, but I’m afraid palpable progress.”

With agencies