Russian shelling caused  fire in a chemical factory in eastern Ukraine

• As the struggle for Sievierodonetsk continued on, Russian bombardment of the Azot chemical plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk started a large fire on Saturday after a spill of tonnes of oil, according to the regional governor.
• Weeks of combat for Sievierodonetsk, a small city in Luhansk province that has been the focal point of Russia’s assault in eastern Ukraine, have pulverised swaths of the town and been among the bloodiest since Moscow’s invasion on February 24.Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, did not specify whether the fire at the power station, where hundreds of civilians were sheltering, had been put out.
• Gaidai said nonstop violence was underway in Sievierodonetsk while speaking on national television.

As the struggle for Sievierodonetsk continued on, Russian bombardment of the Azot chemical plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk started a large fire on Saturday after a spill of tonnes of oil, according to the regional governor.

A big cloud of smoke could be seen rising into the air following an explosion in the city of Avdiivka, which houses another chemical factory, according to Russian media in the neighbouring Donetsk province.

Weeks of combat for Sievierodonetsk, a small city in Luhansk province that has been the focal point of Russia’s assault in eastern Ukraine, have pulverised swaths of the town and been among the bloodiest since Moscow’s invasion on February 24.

Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, did not specify whether the fire at the power station, where hundreds of civilians were sheltering, had been put out. The report could not be independently verified by Reuters.

Read more: ‘Russian aggression,’ not sanctions, is fueling the grain issue

Gaidai said nonstop violence was underway in Sievierodonetsk while speaking on national television. He previously stated that Russian forces controlled the most of the city, but that the Azot chemical factory was in Ukrainian control.

Ukrainian defences repelled a Russian onslaught in one sector of Sievierodonetsk on Saturday, according to the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, but fighting continued in another.

In a Facebook post, the staff reported that Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian onslaught on three small villages northwest of Sloviansk in Donetsk region, while fighting continues in a fourth community in the area, as well as to the east of the city.

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