Russia 'chewing through ground' in Ukraine as it encircles Severodonetsk

US says territory changing hands every day in battle for eastern Donbas

A bridge that once connected Severodonetsk with the city of Lysychansk on the opposite bank of a river in Ukraine. AFP

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Russian forces are "chewing through ground" in Ukraine and closing in on capturing the city of Severodonetsk, a significant target in its push to seize the Donbas region, 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 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 said fighting continued despite efforts to stop Ukraine resupplying its forces.

The official said Russia was making “incremental gains” across the Donbas, with territory changing hands every day as Russia tries to exploit the numerical superiority of its armed forces.

Britain’s Defence Ministry said in a regular intelligence update that pressure was mounting on Severodonetsk but that Ukraine “retains control of multiple defended sectors”.

It previously said the capture of the “Severodonetsk pocket” would effectively put the Luhansk region, one of the breakaway areas recognised as independent by Moscow, under Russian occupation.

Serhiy Gaidai, the head of the Ukrainian administration in Luhansk, said five civilians were killed in Severodonetsk in 24 hours.

Leonid Pasechnik, the leader of the pro-Kremlin separatists in the region, said the territory claimed by the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic had been “liberated by almost 95 per cent”, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an overnight address that Russia was trying to burn Donbas cities “to ashes” and that the offensive in the east threatened to “make the region uninhabited”.

“In cities and communities closer to the Russian border, in Donetsk and Luhansk, they gather everyone they can to fill the place of those killed and wounded in the occupation contingent,” Mr Zelenskyy said.

“All this, including the deportation of our people and the mass killings of civilians, is an obvious policy of genocide pursued by Russia.”

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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

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a call to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday, claimed that his forces were making “efforts to establish peaceful life” in occupied parts of the Donbas.

He accused Ukraine of foiling efforts to open humanitarian corridors out of blockaded Black Sea ports ― deflecting the allegation by European leaders that Russia is engineering a food crisis by stopping Ukraine’s grain exports.

Britain said Russia had moved Soviet-era T-62 tanks from deep storage into the areas it is trying to occupy near the Black Sea coast.

It said the T-62s were likely to be vulnerable to today’s anti-tank weapons and said their presence “highlights Russia’s shortage of modern, combat-ready equipment”.

However, the US briefing was told that Russia still has “a significant amount of the majority of their capability left to them” despite heavy losses during the three-month war.