Defiant Zelenskyy vows Ukraine will resist and rebuild as Russia attacks Donbas

City of Severodonetsk is being systematically destroyed, mayor says

A Gypsum manufactory plant was attacked in the city of Bakhmut at the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP

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Ukrainian cities suffering under Russia’s military onslaught will resist and be rebuilt, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised on Friday

He said Russian forces are hitting cities in the east of the country with air and missile strikes.

Two cities, Lyman and Severodonetsk, are significant targets in Russia’s push to seize the Donbas region.

“We are protecting our land in a way that our current defence resources allow us. We are doing everything to reinforce it. And we will reinforce it,” he said.

“If the occupiers think that Lyman and Severodonetsk will be theirs, they are wrong. The Donbas will be Ukrainian because it’s us, it’s our essence.

“Even if Russia brings destruction and suffering there, we will rebuild every city and every community. There is no, and there won’t be any, real alternative to Ukrainian flags.”

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  Service members of pro-Russian troops drive a tank past a destroyed residential building in the town of Popasna in the Luhansk region, Ukraine. Reuters

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  Smoke and dirt rise from the city of Severodonetsk during shelling in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP

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  Russian soldiers Alexander Alexeevich Ivanov and Alexander Vladimirovich Bobykin, left, attend their trial hearing in Kotelva, northeastern Ukraine. AP Photo

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  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, meets with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP

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  A man drives a GAZ-21 Volga car past a damaged building in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, on the 92nd day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP

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  Public transit workers sweep up shrapnel in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Getty Images

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  Pro-Russian troops inspect an AT4 anti-tank launcher outside the town of Svitlodarsk in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. Reuters

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  People inspect destroyed Russian tanks and armoured vehicles in Irpin, Ukraine. Getty Images

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  A local resident pets a cat next to a destroyed house in Vilkhivka village, near Kharkiv, Ukraine. AFP

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  The remains of a school in Vilkhivka village, near Kharkiv. AFP

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  Widow and daughter of Andriy Vertiev, a Ukrainian serviceman, killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, attend his funeral at Lychakiv cemetery, Lviv, Ukraine. AFP

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  Russian serviceman Vadim Shishimarin, centre, leaves a court hearing in Kyiv. EPA

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  Kateryna Shelikhova, widow of Oleksandr Shelipov, 62, who was shot dead by a Russian soldier. Reuters

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  A child plays against a backdrop of buildings ruined by shelling in Borodyanka, Ukraine. AP

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  A Ukrainian woman in the basement of a building used as bomb shelter in Soledar, Donetsk region. AP

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  Residents live in a subway station used as temporary shelter in Kharkiv. AP

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  Men with salvageable material from damaged buildings after Russian bombing in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine. AP

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  A cuddly toy adorns a destroyed Russian battle tank near damaged homes in Hostomel, Ukraine. Getty Images

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  A mortar explodes next to a road leading to the city of Lysychansk, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP

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  A Ukrainian army vehicle moves towards the front line at a checkpoint near Lysychansk. AFP

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  A boy looks at flags honouring soldiers killed while fighting Russian troops, in Kyiv city centre. AP

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  A mannequin with a fake gun is placed as bait on a roadside in the Nord Saltivka district of Kharkiv. EPA

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  A man looks at a destroyed Russian tank placed as a symbol of war, in central Kyiv. AP

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  Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a screen at the opening ceremony for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Reuters

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  Smoke billows from an oil refinery after an attack outside the city of Lysychansk, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP

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  A woman walks by a destroyed apartment building in Bakhmut, Donbas region. AFP

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  An elderly woman stands inside her heavily damaged house after it was hit by a missile in Bakhmut. AFP

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  A mother with her daughter sit inside a bus as they leave Bakhmut. AFP

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  A Ukrainian soldier prepares coffee as he takes a break near an artillery position in the breakaway enclave of Donetsk, in the Donbas region. Reuters

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  A Ukrainian soldier exercises near Donetsk. Reuters

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  A woman displaced by incessant Russian shelling leaves a metro station where people had been living underground for months in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Getty

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  A heavily damaged home spa near Ruski Tyshky village in Ukraine. Getty

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  The wreckage of a Ukrainian military helicopter is transported in Kharkiv. Getty

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  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish President Andrzej Duda in Kyiv. EPA

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  Two Ukrainian national guard soldiers pay their respects at a cemetery in Kharkiv. AP

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  A man pushes a wheelbarrow past a heavily damaged apartment building near Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol. Reuters

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  The burnt out shells of cars in a residential area near Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol. Reuters

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  Pro-Russian troops drive a tank in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Reuters

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  A Russian soldier takes a break during an operation to demine the territory of Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. Reuters

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  Relatives and friends attend the funeral of a Ukrainian soldier killed in action, in the Odessa region city of Rozdilna. EPA

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  Ukrainians wearing traditional clothing listen to their national anthem as they take part in the celebration of 'Vyshyvanka Day', an annual celebration of Ukrainian folk traditions, in Athens. AFP

He added: “As expected, the situation [in the Donbas] is extremely difficult.

“The occupiers are trying to achieve the goals they hoped to achieve in the first days of the war after February 24, at least before the 100th day of the war. That’s why they have concentrated maximum artillery and reserves [there].”

Ukrainian forces are doing everything possible to protect the territory, he said.

Severodonetsk and Lyman are the last areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk, one of two provinces that make up the Donbas. Russia-backed separatists have controlled parts of the territory for the past eight years.

“Massive artillery shelling does not stop, day and night,” Severodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said.

“The city is being systematically destroyed — 90 per cent of the buildings in the city are damaged.”

Mr Striuk described conditions as reminiscent of the battle for Mariupol, a port city located in the Donetsk region, which is now in ruins.

Russian forces are “chewing through ground” in Ukraine and closing in on capturing Severodonetsk, western officials said.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Ukraine's successful defence of Kyiv in the early weeks of the war should not lull western countries into thinking Russia was defeated.

“I’m afraid that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, at great cost to himself and Russian military, is continuing to chew through ground in Donbas, he’s continuing to make gradual, slow, but I’m afraid palpable progress,” he told Bloomberg.

A US defence official said in a briefing that Russian troops had “essentially encircled” Severodonetsk and seized the city’s north-east, but that fighting continued despite efforts to stop Ukraine resupplying its forces.