Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[RIA Novosti] Units of the LPR and the Russian military have entrenched themselves in the industrial zone of Severodonetsk, including near the Azot chemical plant, where Ukrainian militants are located, Lieutenant Colonel of the People's Militia of the Luhansk People's Republic Andrei Marochko said on Channel One.
"Our units, together with Russian units, have already established themselves in the 'promka' (industrial zone) and have begun a special operation. That is, we are already slowly starting to move along the industrial zone and clean up this territory," he said.
The official representative of the Lugansk department , Ivan Filiponenko , noted that there were fighters of the People's Militia, as well as "allied troops represented by the Akhmat regiment." (special purpose regiment named after the Hero of Russia Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov. - Approx. ed.)
According to the LPR authorities, there are up to a thousand Ukrainian nationalists and militants on the territory of the plant.
Fights for Severodonetsk have been going on since the beginning of May. Last week, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the complete liberation of residential areas of the city.
Ukrainian armed formations control the territory of Azot and, according to the Ministry of Defense, hold hundreds of civilians there.
For the evacuation of the civilian population from the territory of the chemical plant, the Russian side provided a humanitarian corridor in a northerly direction towards the city of Svatovo in the Luhansk People's Republic. However, the Ukrainian troops violated the ceasefire twice and disrupted the process by shelling the city blocks as well. In just five days of evacuation, the DPR army evacuated more than a thousand people from Severodonetsk.
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