MADRID, 10 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The authorities of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Lugansk (PLR) have reported that Russian troops have besieged the Azot chemical plant, located in the city of Severodonetsk, with dozens of Ukrainian soldiers inside.
This episode is thus reminiscent of what happened at the Azovstal steel plant, located in the port city of Mariupol and the last bastion of the Ukrainian forces in the area. Finally, Russia took over the facilities at the end of May after the Azov Battalion paramilitary group resigned to continue fighting.
“A small group of Ukrainian formations in the territory of the Azot chemical plant can no longer leave the facilities. All escape routes have been cut off for them,” the RPL ambassador in Moscow, Rodion Miroshnik, reported on his social networks. .
Miroshnik has pointed out that there is a group of Ukrainian soldiers who are trying to contact the Russian forces and those in Lugansk to present “some conditions” to lift the siege, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
However, the diplomatic representative of the RPL has warned that Russia and Lugansk will not accept any type of condition that does not include the delivery of weapons and the surrender of the Ukrainians at the plant.
At the beginning of June, the regional governor of Luganks, Sergei Gaidai, estimated that around 800 people were taking refuge in the chemical plant facilities, however Miroshnik has not ventured to confirm the number of Ukrainians who are sheltering in Azot. .
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 of the self-proclaimed republic of Lugansk under still under Ukrainian control. If the offensive continues and the city is fully occupied by Russian troops, it would be a milestone for Russia.
