Up to 1,200 Civilians May Be in Plant in Eye of Ukraine Battle, Separatist Says

Buildings destroyed by Russian military strike, amid Russia's invasion on Ukraine, are seen in the town of Dobropillia, in Donetsk region, Ukraine June 14, 2022.. (Reuters)
Buildings destroyed by Russian military strike, amid Russia's invasion on Ukraine, are seen in the town of Dobropillia, in Donetsk region, Ukraine June 14, 2022.. (Reuters)
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Up to 1,200 Civilians May Be in Plant in Eye of Ukraine Battle, Separatist Says

Buildings destroyed by Russian military strike, amid Russia's invasion on Ukraine, are seen in the town of Dobropillia, in Donetsk region, Ukraine June 14, 2022.. (Reuters)
Buildings destroyed by Russian military strike, amid Russia's invasion on Ukraine, are seen in the town of Dobropillia, in Donetsk region, Ukraine June 14, 2022.. (Reuters)

Up to 1,200 civilians may be holed up in the shelters of the Azot chemical plant in the eastern Ukrainian city where one of the fiercest battles of the war has been raging between Russian and Ukrainian forces, a Russian-backed separatist said.

Russian forces are trying to grind down Ukrainian resistance in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, part of a wider push to drive Kyiv's forces out of two separatist regions which Russia backs and has recognized as independent states.

Russia on Wednesday said it had opened a humanitarian corridor out of the sprawling ammonia factory founded under Soviet leader Josef Stalin, to a separatist-controlled town.

"About 1,000 to 1,200 civilians of Sievierodonetsk may still be on the territory of the Azot chemical plant," Rodion Miroshnik, an official in the Russian-backed self-styled separatist administration of the Luhansk People's Republic, said on Telegram.

Miroshnik said the civilians are in part of the plant that is still controlled by Ukrainian forces, which he said numbered up to 2,000 people including Ukrainian and foreign fighters.

Russia on Tuesday said it dismissed a Ukrainian request for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from the plant to Kyiv-controlled territory, citing the destruction of the last bridge across the Siverskyi Donets river which blocks the city's eastern exits.

"We offer the militants of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries located at the Azot plant to cease any hostilities," the defense ministry said.

Russia's defense ministry said what it said were Ukrainian "militants" had deliberately led civilians into the Azot plant and was using them as human shields.

Reuters was unable to verify that claim. Ukraine has denied Russian claims that it uses civilians as human shields.

Russia's humanitarian corridor northwards to the city of Svatove will be open until Wednesday evening, the defense ministry said.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that the main immediate reason for what he casts as a "special military operation" was to protect the Russian-speakers of Donbas from persecution and attack by Ukraine.

Ukraine and its Western backers say Russia is waging an unprovoked war against a sovereign state which is fighting for its existence. Kyiv says Russia's claim of persecution of Russian-speakers is a baseless pretext for the invasion.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea, with Russian-backed forces fighting Ukraine's armed forces. About 14,000 people were killed there between 2014 and 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.



Kremlin Says New US Base in Poland Is Aimed at ‘Containing’ Russia

Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/Kremlin/dpa
Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/Kremlin/dpa
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Kremlin Says New US Base in Poland Is Aimed at ‘Containing’ Russia

Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/Kremlin/dpa
Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/Kremlin/dpa

The Kremlin said on Wednesday the opening of a new US missile base in Poland was part of an attempt to contain Russia by moving American military infrastructure closer to its borders.

The US base at Redzikowo is part of a broader NATO missile shield dubbed "Aegis Ashore", which the alliance says is capable of intercepting short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had objected to plans for the base as far back as the 2000s, when George W. Bush was US president.

He said Putin had insisted at the time the United States was lying when it said the purpose was to intercept potential Iranian missiles.

"This is confirmation that President Putin was right. These plans continue to be implemented. This is the advancement of American military infrastructure on European territory towards our borders," Peskov said.

"This is nothing other than an attempt to contain our military potential and, of course, this leads to the adoption of appropriate measures to ensure parity."

Peskov did not say what measures Russia might take in response.