Fierce battle for key Ukraine city changing ‘every hour’

Street fighting raged Tuesday for control of Ukraine's flashpoint city of Severodonetsk, with the situation changing "every hour", an official said, as Kiev warned its troops were outnumbered by Russian forces.

Just days ago, Moscow seemed close to taking the strategic industrial hub in the east but Ukrainian forces have managed to hold out.

"Our heroes are holding their positions in Severodonetsk. Fierce street fights continue in the city," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address late Monday.

Concerns about a global food crisis also grew as Zelensky warned of tightening grain supplies -- Ukraine is a top producer of the commodity -- due to what Washington described as a Russian strategy of "blackmail".

Thousands of civilians have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24.

After being repelled from other parts of the country, including Kiev, Russia has concentrated its assault on the eastern Donbas region and had been making slow but steady progress.

Severodonetsk -- the largest city still in Ukrainian hands in the Lugansk region of the Donbas -- has been the focal point in recent weeks, and officials described a fast-changing situation on the ground.

"The situation is changing every hour, but at the same time there's enough forces and resources to repel attacks," said mayor Oleksandr Striuk on Monday.

"We have hope, we have faith in our armed forces, no one's going to abandon" Severodonetsk, he added.
Zelensky warned Ukrainian forces in the key city were outnumbered and the Russians "are stronger," speaking to journalists after visiting frontline positions in Lysychansk, across the river...