“Everything that can be burned is burning today,” Serhiy Haidai, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, told the Associated Press. Russia’s war has raised alarm over food supplies from Ukraine to the rest of the world and gas supplies from Russia, as well as raising questions about security in Western Europe. The Russian military currently controls about 95 percent of the Luhansk region. However, Moscow has been struggling for weeks to fully overcome it, despite the fact that it is developing additional troops and has a huge advantage in military means. “With the help of regular moves, the Ukrainian army is strengthening its defenses in the Luhansk region,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video overnight. “That’s really the most difficult situation right now.” In the city of Severodonetsk, the hot spot of the fighting, Ukrainian defenders held the Azot chemical plant on the industrial outskirts. About 500 people have taken refuge in the factory, and Haidai said Russian forces were turning the area into “ruins”. Follow the latest updates below.
