Heavy ground fighting and Russian Federation (RF) bombardments of civilian infrastructure are continuing in eastern Luhansk region, local officials and military spokesmen said on Friday. March 25.
Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional defense command, in a statement said overnight RF artillery strikes damaged two churches in the town Severodonetsk. Local authorities had been using of the churches, the Russian Orthodox Mother of God “Joy for All Who Weep”, was being used as a field hospital, when it was shelled. It was not yet clear how many patients and medical personnel had been hurt from the strike, Haidai said.
Many sectors of the battle lines stretching across Ukraine have seen less intense fighting in recent weeks, due to stiffening Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) defenses and increasing Russian Federation (RF) ammunition and personnel shortages.
The Luhansk region has been an exception, with RF land forces almost daily attempting to take ground from the UAF, and employing artillery and aerial bombs to bombard civilian homes and businesses.
A Friday Interior Ministry statement said overnight RF bombardments and air strikes hit Luhansk region towns and villages Serverodonetsk, Lysychansk, Rubezhno, Kremeny, Novodruzheska and Voevodovka. More than 30 buildings were damaged, including 10 apartment buildings, 13 private homes, a manufacturing business and a school, the statement said.
A statement from the UAF’s Eastern Joint Command said that over Thursday all RF carried out five full dress attacks, most seriously against Rubezhno and Avdiievka, all of which were repulsed. RF losses in the assaults included nine tanks, seven armored personnel carriers, five self-propelled artillery pieces, nine other vehicles, and 130 men killed or wounded, the statement said.
