MADRID, 11 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The ambassador to Russia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic — a separatist entity in eastern Ukraine and close to Moscow — Rodion Miroshnik, estimates that around 400 Ukrainian combatants and 500 civilians are blocked by Russian forces and their allies at the plant Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, and that negotiations for its evacuation have already begun.
For the second time since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, a large-scale industrial complex has become one of the last defensive bastions of the Ukrainian forces defending a town, as was the case previously at the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol, now under Russian control after a bloody siege.
According to the ambassador, “contact has been established with the combatants and negotiations have begun for the safe exit of civilians from the territory of the plant,” he has made known on his Telegram channel.
“The Ukrainian formations will be guaranteed life and proper treatment, in accordance with international requirements if they release the hostages, stop their resistance and surrender unconditionally,” he added in his note, collected by the TASS agency.
The Lugansk militias confirmed more than ten days ago the start of the “assault” on Severodonetsk in collaboration with the Russian Army.
The town is the last bastion that Ukraine still controls in the self-proclaimed republic. If the offensive continues and the city is fully occupied by Russian troops, Moscow would have achieved one of its main objectives of the invasion.
