BREAKING: Russia captures Toshkivka settlement in Severodonetsk pocket, Ukraine

According to the head of the Severodonetsk RVA, Russia’s troops have completely captured Toshkovka and are battling Ukrainian soldiers in the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Roman Vlasenko said on Tuesday, June 21, “As of today, according to our information, Toshkivka is controlled entirely by Russia’s soldiers,” adding that the battle for Donbas is “now in full swing.”

Videos circulating on social media show the moment Russian troops surrounded Luhansk’s Toshkivka as they moved to capture the settlement. Toshkivka, with a prewar population of about 5,000 people, is about 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Severodonetsk.

https://twitter.com/200_zoka/status/1539211543765975040

As reported recently by the New York Times, Ukrainian forces had been struggling to defend the territory – known as the Sevierodonetsk pocket – with twin cities, Sevierodonetsk and Lysychansk, the last major population centres in the Luhansk province of Donbas yet to be conquered by Russian forces.

The battle for the Severodonetsk pocket has been raging for weeks now and has swung back and forth between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

On Wednesday, June 15, the British MoD noted that ‘Ukrainian soldiers, along with several hundred civilians, were sheltering in underground bunkers in the Azot Chemical Plant, in Severodonetsk’s industrial zone.’

“After more than a month of heavy fighting, Russian forces now control most of Severodonetsk,” the British Defence Intelligence said.

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