Ukrainians burying civilians in mass graves as Russia advances

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Ukrainians in the eastern Donbas region are burying dead civilians in mass graves in the face of a concerted assault by Russia, which is reportedly holding about 8,000 prisoners of war in the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Amid reports that Lyman, the site of an important railway junction, had largely been taken by Russian forces, Ukraine’s general staff reported that Russian forces were also advancing on Sievierodonetsk, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said that just 5% of the region now remained in Ukrainian hands – down from about 10% just over a week ago.

Haidai added that police in Lysychansk were burying the bodies of civilians in mass graves, with about 150 people having been buried in such a grave in one district.

If confirmed, the continuing Russian advances in Lyman, which has been contested for a month, would make it easier for Russian forces to isolate the key city of Sievierodonetsk, which has been under relentless shelling for days.

According to accounts posted on social media, Lyman’s Ukrainian defenders had pulled back to the southern outskirts, although fighting was continuing, in particular around the railway sidings in the town.

Outside Sievierodonetsk, now the focal point of Moscow’s renewed offensive in Ukraine’s Donbas region, Haidai said fighting was “very difficult”.

Predicting the “coming week will be decisive”, Haidai said the city was being subjected to a “colossal amount of shelling” by Russian troops attempting to batter it into submission.

After failing to seize Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, or its second city, Kharkiv, in its three-month war, Russia is trying to take full control of Donbas, comprising two eastern provinces Russia claims on behalf of separatists.

Moscow has poured thousands of troops into the region, attacking from three sides in an attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces holding out in Sievierodonetsk and its twin, Lysychansk.

Their fall would leave the whole of Luhansk province under Russian control, a main aim of the Kremlin’s war.

Meanwhile the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, issued a bitter rebuke to the west for not doing enough to help Kyiv win the war.

Calling for help “without limits”, specifically shipments of heavy weaponry, Zelenskiy also criticised recent suggestions that a negotiated peace deal could include territorial concessions.

Zelenskiy has said Russian troops heavily outnumber Ukrainian forces in some parts of the east, and Kyiv has been trying unsuccessfully to arrange a prisoner swap with Moscow.

The heavy attrition on Ukrainian defenders in the east – where between 50 and 100 soldiers are dying every day, according to Zelenskiy – has also seen claims by Russia of large numbers of prisoners being taken.

Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russia-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics number about 8,000, the Luhansk official, Rodion Miroshnik, was quoted by Tass news agency as saying.

“There are a lot of prisoners,” Miroshnik said. “Now the total number is somewhere in the region of 8,000. That’s a lot, and literally hundreds are being added every day.” His claims could not be verified.

As Russia seeks to solidify its grip on the territory it has seized, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree simplifying the process for residents of newly captured districts to acquire Russian citizenship and passports.

The Russian parliament scrapped the upper age limit for contractual service in the military on Wednesday, highlighting the need to replace lost troops.

In a late night video address, Zelenskiy said of the new Russian enlistment rules: “[They] no longer have enough young men, but they still have the will to fight. It will still take time to crush this will.”

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told the World Economic Forum in Davos his country “badly” needed multiple-launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower in the battle for Donbas.

In the eastern town of Soledar, Ukraine’s salt manufacturing hub, the ground shook moments after Natalia Timofeyenko climbed out of her bunker on Wednesday.

“I go outside just to see people. I know that there is shelling out there but I go,” the 47-year-old said after a blast smashed apart a chunk of a salt mine where she worked with most of her friends and neighbours.

Agencies contributed to this report