‘Scorched earth’: Russian forces push back Ukrainians in battle for key city

Russia has blown up the last bridge to Sievierodonetsk, cutting off the embattled east Ukrainian city which is now largely occupied by the Kremlin’s troops.

Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, and Oleksandr Stryuk, the city’s mayor, confirmed the developments on Tuesday, saying Ukrainian soldiers were now fighting from its industrial outskirts.

The invading forces had pushed the Ukrainian army back through its “scorched earth method and heavy artillery”, Mr Haidai said.

Speaking to the Associated Press, the Luhansk governor added that the evacuation of local residents and the wounded remained possible.

However, Mr Stryuk, the mayor of Sievierodonetsk, explained how difficult this was in practice, given the ferocity of the fighting.

Evacuations were taking place “every minute when there is a lull and there is a possibility of transportation,” he said. “But these are discreet evacuations, done one by one, and every possible chance is taken.”

Ukraine says more than 500 civilians are still trapped in the Azot chemical factory due to heavy Russian bombardment. Moscow has called on fighters there to surrender on Wednesday morning, saying it will allow non-combatants out through a “humanitarian corridor”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday night that the battle for Sievierodonetsk is one of the “most brutal” Europe has ever witnessed. The fighting in the city is taking a “terrifying” toll on his country, he added.

Ukraine has previously said that between 100 and 200 of its troops are dying each day in the eastern Donbas region, which comprises the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.

As the death toll mounts, Mr Zelensky continues to urge western leaders to give Ukraine more heavy weaponry.

“What we don’t have enough of are the weapons that really hit the range that we need to reduce the advantage of the Russian Federation’s equipment,” he told Danish reporters on Tuesday.

This comes as a Ukrainian politician warned that Kyiv would have to drastically cut its budget unless it received financial assistance from abroad.

Danylo Hetmantsev said Ukraine raised 101 billion hryvnias (£2.8bn) in taxes in May, but spent 250 billion hryvnias (£7bn) on supporting its citizens and funding its army.

Elsewhere, Serhiy Khlan, an adviser to the Ukrainian governor of Kherson, said Ukraine was still succeeding in recapturing some territory in the south of the country. Kyiv’s soldiers were advancing from the town of Tavriysk on the Dnipro river, he said.