Ukraine-Russia: Eastern city at risk of becoming another Mariupol as fighting intensifies

The eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk appears to be on the brink of becoming another Mariupol as services and aid have been cut and fighting in the region intensifies as Moscow seeks to capture all of the industrial Donbas region.

Meanwhile, 60 miles away in Luhansk, an evacuation of the eastern region was halted after a convoy came under fire from Russian troops, killing a French journalist – on the day the French foreign minister made a visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

Frédéric Leclerc Imhoff, who worked for BFMTV and had studied journalism in Bordeaux, was killed after the vehicle he was travelling in to cover the evacuation of civilians from the region was shelled.

Sergey Gaidai, governor of Luhansk Oblast, said: "The evacuation has been officially stopped. Russians fired on a car that was going to pick up people. A French journalist was killed.

Ukrainia's Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba talks to his French counterpart Catherine Colonna on a visit to Kyiv.

“Today our armoured evacuation vehicle was going to pick up ten people from the area and came under enemy fire. Shrapnel from shells pierced the armour of the car. A fatal wound to the neck was received by an accredited French journalist who was making material about the evacuation. A patrol policeman was saved by a helmet."

In Sievierodonetsk, fierce street fighting is under way in the city as Ukrainian defenders try to push the Russians out, mayor Oleksandr Striuk said. However, Russian troops had advanced a few blocks toward the city centre.

"The number of victims is rising every hour, but we are unable to count the dead and the wounded amid the street fighting," the mayor said.

He said 12,000 to 13,000 civilians left in the city that once held more than 100,000 were sheltering in basements and bunkers to escape the Russian bombardment.

Russian forces stormed Sievierodonetsk after trying unsuccessfully to encircle it, Ukrainian officials said. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has described the situation there as "indescribably difficult".

An intense Russian artillery barrage has destroyed critical infrastructure and damaged 90 per cent of the buildings.

Sievierodonetsk, located 189 miles south of the Russian border, has emerged in recent days as the epi-centre of the Donbas fighting. Mariupol is the city on the Sea of Azov that spent nearly three months under Russian siege before the last Ukrainian fighters surrendered.

Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk span the strategically important Siverskiy Donetsk River.

They are the last major areas under Ukrainian control in the province of Luhansk, which makes up the Donbas together with the adjacent Donetsk region.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told French TF1 television on Sunday that Moscow's "unconditional priority is the liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions", adding that Russia sees them as "independent states".

He also suggested other regions of Ukraine should be able to establish close ties with Russia.

The Ukrainian army reported heavy fighting around Donetsk, the regional capital, as well as Lyman to the north – a small city that serves as a key rail hub in the Donetsk region.

"The enemy is reinforcing its units," the Ukrainian armed forces' General Staff said. "It is trying to gain a foothold in the area."

This comes as Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has said next month's summit in Madrid will be a "historic" opportunity to strengthen the alliance in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

At the Madrid summit, we will chart the way ahead for the next decade," Mr Stoltenberg said.

"We will also be joined by Finland and Sweden, who have just made historic applications to join our alliance. The Madrid summit is an important opportunity to reaffirm our Nato values."

The leader of the 30-member alliance did not address Turkey's reluctance to opening the doors to Sweden and Finland.

Turkey, which commands the second-largest military in Nato behind the United States, has cited the alleged support by the Nordic countries for Kurdish militants that Turkey considers terrorists as reason to reject their applications. Unanimous support is needed to add new Nato members.

On Sunday, when Mr Stoltenberg held a private session with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to prepare the summit, he expressed his confidence that Turkey can be convinced to drop its rejection of the Scandinavian pair.