Fierce street-to-street fighting ongoing in center of Sievierodonetsk - Motuzianyk

Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Motuzianyk, said this at a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine and Ukrinform.

"Russian troops are using the tactics of the Second World War and consider the encirclement of Ukrainian troops and the capture of territories to be their main achievement. The enemy attaches special importance to achieving a significant advantage in artillery and armored vehicles, with virtually no infantry maneuvers. A sign of this is an analysis of reports, including about the course of hostilities in the city of Sievierodonetsk, where street-to-street fighting continues, the enemy command does not reckon with losses and tries to capture as much territory of Ukraine as possible. The occupiers are suffering heavy losses in the infantry units of Rosgvardiya and the Russian Armed Forces and are advancing only using assault aircraft," Motuzianyk said.

He noted that the main goal of the Russian command at this stage is reaching the administrative borders of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and keeping control of a land corridor with the occupied Crimean peninsula.

"Ukraine's armed forces are holding off the offensive of Russian units trying to surround our troops in the Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk areas and block logistics routes from Bakhmut. In the Sloviansk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully held off the enemy's offensive near the villages of Dolyna and Bohorodychne. Near Lyman, the enemy did not conduct active hostilities, but continued to shell the positions of our troops outside the settlements of Maiaky and Serebrianka. In the Sievierodonetsk direction, our troops are resisting hostile assaults in the city itself. The enemy is actively using artillery and multiple rocket launchers and is currently controlling the center of Sievierodonetsk, where intense fighting is ongoing," he said.

According to him, the Bakhmut direction remains important, where Ukrainian units repulsed the enemy's assault in the directions of Viktorivka-Vrubivka and Komyshuvakha-Vrubivka. In order to block Ukrainian units, the enemy resumed offensive operations outside the village of Zolote and is trying to gain a foothold near the settlements of Roty and Myronivka. Ukraine's Armed Forces successfully repelled the assault of the enemy toward Dolomite-Kodema and Dolomite-Novoluhansk. The enemy attacked in these areas, seeking to improve their tactical position and capture the dominant heights. However, Ukrainian defenders did not allow the invaders to do so.

In the Kurakhove direction, the enemy, using a pair of Su-25 aircraft, launched an air strike on the positions of Ukrainian troops near Krasnohorivka.