"They pushed our troops out of the centre and continued to destroy our city," Ukrainian forces cry out

 Ukraine said on Monday its forces were being pushed back from the centre of the eastern city of Severodonetsk, where fighting with Russia has been raging for weeks.

"The enemy carried out offensive operations in the city of Severodonetsk with the support of artillery, partially succeeded and pushed our units away from the city center," the Ukrainian military said on Facebook. Local governor Sergiy Gaiday said "the Russians were partially successful" in the city at night. They "pushed our troops out of the centre and continued to destroy our city," he said on Facebook. According to Gaiday, the Russians control "more than 70 percent" of the city. Gaiday said the Azot chemical plant - where 500 civilians, including 40 children, are sheltering - is under "heavy fire" by Russian forces. "We are trying to negotiate a humanitarian corridor" for the civilians, Gaiday said in a separate video on Telegram. He added that the effort was "unsuccessful for the time being". Gaiday previously said Moscow's forces were "assembling more and more equipment" to "encircle" Severodonetsk and nearby Lysyhansk.

He said that in the last 24 hours in Lysychansk, across a river from Severodonetsk, three civilians were killed by shelling, including a six-year-old boy. The governor said Ukraine's security services had exposed 50 "traitors" in Lysychansk who he said were sending information to Russian forces. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Sunday that Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting "literally for every metre" in Severodonetsk.

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