KYIV, 31 May 2022, (TON): Russian troops entered the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, a regional governor said on Monday, describing the fighting as very fierce in a city that become a key objective for Moscow’s offensive in the Donbas.

Luhansk region Governor Serhiy Gaidai said “shelling killed two civilians and wounded five others as Russian troops advanced into the city’s southeastern and northeastern areas fringes.”

Incessant shelling has left Ukrainian forces defending ruins in Sievierodonetsk, but their refusal to withdraw has slowed a massive Russian offensive across the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a televised speech “some 90 percent of buildings are damaged. More than two-thirds of the city’s housing stock has been completely destroyed. There is no telecommunication.”

Ukrainian forces in the Donbas said “they were on the defensive all day on Sunday. Russian forces fired on 46 communities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, killing at least three civilians, wounding two others or destroying or damaging 62 civilian buildings.”