Sievierodonetsk’s defenders feared a rerun of the encirclement of the Azovstal steel works in the southern port city of Mariupol, where hundreds of Ukrainian fighters holed up.

One of the last Ukrainian defenders of Sievierodonetsk said he withdrew in a boat, bitter to be leaving after weathering a weeks-long Russian onslaught on the ruined city but happy to be alive as he and others crossed the river to higher ground.

Russian forces fully occupied the frontline eastern city on Saturday, both sides said, confirming Kyiv’s biggest battlefield setback for more than a month following some of the war’s bloodiest fighting.

“It was a shame of course because a lot of effort was put into defending it – it went on for months,” Danylo, a 24-year-old soldier who said he was among almost the last to leave, said.

“But… we’re not too upset as we also want to live.”

He and another soldier, Anton, who also left in the final days, described their pullback across the Siverskyi Donets river in interviews on Sunday.

They spoke to Reuters in Sloviansk, a town some 60 km (35 miles) west of Sievierodonetsk that has now become one of Ukraine’s key strongholds for its defense of the industrial Donbas heartland that Russia’s assault is focused on capturing.

“It was mostly under darkness for safety. The locations of the crossings were constantly changed because they were also shelled,” Danylo said.

“It was mostly under darkness for safety. The locations of the crossings were constantly changed because they were also shelled.”

Danylo

He said that, as far as he was aware, no one was killed in the pullback.

Fears of another Mariupol
Anton said Sievierodonetsk’s defenders feared a rerun of the encirclement of the Azovstal steel works in the southern port city of Mariupol, where hundreds of Ukrainian fighters holed up before eventually surrendering.

In Sievierodonetsk, the Ukrainian forces were also pushed back to a sprawling industrial area, this time that of the Azot chemical plant.

“There were a lot of civilians, soldiers and everything was moving towards us being encircled,” Anton said, accusing Russia’s army of using “scorched earth” tactics.

“If it was just infantry and an assault, we would still be able to defend, but their tactic is to destroy all the buildings, destroy everything there is and we just have nowhere to fortify, nowhere to conduct a positional war, nowhere to defend,” he said.

“If it was just infantry and an assault, we would still be able to defend, but their tactic is to destroy all the buildings, destroy everything there is and we just have nowhere to fortify, nowhere to conduct a positional war, nowhere to defend.”

Anton
“They’re just testing our endurance. There are no logical explanations for their actions, but they’re just draining us, that’s their whole tactic,” he said.

Moscow denies targeting civilians in what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Kiev and the West accuse Russian forces of war crimes in a conflict that has killed thousands and sent millions fleeing abroad.