President Zelenskyj describes the battle for Sievjerodonetsk as a trend-setting event for the struggle in eastern Ukraine.  Now the Azot chemical plant is coming under fire.  Current developments.
 
 Kyiv.  
 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls the bitter battle for Sievjerodonetsk one of the most difficult battles in the war with Russia.  
 
 After more than three months of fighting, taking the strategically important city could mean a preliminary decision in the struggle for the Donbass region.  Russia had the neighboring country on 24.  attacked in February.  Thursday is 106 for Ukraine.  Day of the war.
 
Russians shell chemical plant in Severodonetsk
 According to Ukrainian sources, Russian troops in eastern Ukraine are continuing their attacks on residential and industrial areas in the heavily contested city of Sieverodonetsk.  Four people were killed as a result of the shelling of the chemical plant Azot, the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, wrote on Thursday in the social network Telegram.  According to Ukrainian sources, the facility is used by hundreds of civilians as an air raid shelter.  However, there is currently no threat of a comparable encirclement by Russian troops, as was the case until recently in the port city of Mariupol.
  The accusation that the Ukrainians lured the civilians into the Azot cellars and then mined the area is repeatedly voiced by the Russian and pro-Russian side.  There is no evidence for this.  More than 24 percent of the Luhansk Oblast, in which Sieverodonetsk is located, is already occupied by Russia.  The information provided by the warring parties often cannot be verified by an independent party.
 
Zelenskyj: Sievjerodonetsk decides on Donbass
 President Zelenskyj described the battle for Sievjerodonetsk as a landmark for the struggle in the east of the country.  "Syeverodonetsk remains the epicenter of the clashes in Donbass," he said in a video message on Wednesday.  The Ukrainian military is inflicting noticeable losses on the enemy there.  "This is a very brutal and difficult battle. Perhaps one of the most difficult of this war (...) In many ways the fate of our Donbass will be decided there."
  
Governor: Russia controls most of the city
 After heavy fighting, the Russian army controls most of Sievarodonetsk.  This was announced by the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, in his Telegram channel on Wednesday.  "As for the industrial zone (of Sieverodonetsk), our defenders are holding there. But the fighting is not only going on in the industrial zone - the fighting is taking place in the city."  However, the situation in the industrial zone is not like in the city of Mariupol, where the fighting took place right at the Azovstal plant.  "As of today, there is no danger of encirclement," said Hajdaj.  Over 24 percent of Luhansk Oblast is occupied by Russia.
 
London: Russian troops target Isjum
 According to British intelligence services, Russian troops have been advancing towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum in the past few days.  The troops would probably have increased their efforts there, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement in London on Thursday.  Izyum is in the Kharkiv region, which borders on the Luhansk region, which has meanwhile been almost completely occupied by the Russians.
 
Duda criticized Scholz and Macron for talks with Putin 20090101
 Polish President Duda criticized Chancellor Scholz and French President Macron for continuing talks with Putin.  "These talks are useless," Duda criticized in an "image" interview that was published on YouTube on Wednesday.  The situation is similar to that of Adolf Hitler in World War II.  "And did anyone talk to Adolf Hitler that way during World War II?" Duda asked.  "Did someone say that he has to save face? That one has to do it in such a way that it is not humiliating for Adolf Hitler?"  He doesnt know such voices.
 
Ukraine and Russia exchange more bodies
 According to authorities in Kyiv, Ukraine and Russia handed over the bodies of 37 soldiers to the other side.  Among the killed Ukrainians are 24 "heroes" who took part in the defense of the Azovstal plant, the Ukrainian ministry said for the reintegration of the temporarily occupied areas in Kyiv.  The fighters held the fort at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol until Kyiv gave up the city in May.  According to Ukrainian sources, the exchange took place along the front line in the Zaporizhia region in the south of the country.  (dpa)