At least eight Ukrainian civilians were killed and 21 others injured in a Russian bombardment on Monday as they collected water in Lysytchansk (east), twin city of Severodonetsk recently conquered by Moscow forces, announced the governor regional.
“The Russians fired into a crowd of people with Hurricane multiple rocket launchers as civilians collected water from a cistern. Eight residents died, 21 were taken to hospital,” Sergei Gaïdaï, governor of the Lugansk region, said on Telegram.
The Next Russian Target
This locality is the next target of the Russian forces after their total occupation of Severodonetsk, after several weeks of fighting which ravaged the two cities and which also caused the death of dozens of civilians. Lysytchansk is the last major city left to conquer for the Russians in the Lugansk region, one of the two provinces of the Donbass industrial basin.
The Ukrainian army announced on Friday its withdrawal from Severodonetsk to better defend Lyssytchansk, where street clashes are taking place according to pro-Russian separatists who fight alongside Moscow forces. Gaïdaï had reported last week that the fighting was causing “catastrophic destruction” in Lysychansk, which had around 100,000 inhabitants before the war.