Ukraine claims buildings damaged due to Russian shelling in Luhansk's Severodonetsk

Ukraine has claimed that Russian forces have 26 times carried out firing at the settlements in Luhansk over 24 hours. Taking to their Facebook account, the National Police of Ukraine has said that people have been injured and 39 objects have been damaged due to Russian shelling in Luhansk's Severodonetsk. According to Ukrainian Police, street fights continue in the streets of Severodonetsk. 

"Local residents were injured as a result of the shelling, 39 objects were damaged. Street fights continue in the city of Severodonetsk," the National Police of Ukraine said in the Facebook post. 

The National Police of Ukraine has said that Russian forces have carrying out air strikes in Komyshuvakha and Nyrkovo and a chemical plant in Severodonetsk was hit which released toxic substances. The Russian forces have damaged 4 apartment buildings in factory buildings and a car in Lysychansk in Severodonetsk. In addition, six houses and an educational building was damaged. According to the National Police of Ukraine, Russian forces had damaged six houses in Vrubivka, five houses in Maloivanivka and three houses in Mykolaivka. Furthermore, Ukrainian police has registered one case of illegal seizure of vehicles and eight cases of looting. 

Leonid Pasechnik claims Russia already occupied one-third area of Severodonetsk

Earlier on 31 May, Leonid Pasechnik, the head of pro-Moscow Luhansk People's Republic, claimed that Russian troops have already captured one-third area of Severodonetsk city, TASS reported. His statement came amid the battle between the troops of both countries in Ukraine's eastern regions. Speaking to TASS, Leonid Pasechnik said, "We can already say that a third of the city is under our control." He further added that combat is now taking place in the region's urban areas, and that offensive is not going as fast as Russia would have liked. Pasechnik said that their main objective is to "liberate" the Severodonetsk and Lysychansk cities, where around 10,000 Ukrainian troops are deployed. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, May 31, called the situation in Donbass "very difficult." In his late-night video address on May 31, Zelenskyy stressed that Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and Kurakhove continue to remain at the epicentre of the confrontation.

Image: AP