Ukrainians shelter underneath chemical plant which will maintain harmful materials: Report

Residents of an japanese Ukrainian metropolis underneath intense bombardment by Russian forces are sheltering underneath a chemical plant that could be storing harmful substances, in line with a Ukrainian official.

The Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk is serving as a refuge for civilians as Russian troops enter town that's now 70% managed by Russia, in line with the governor of the Luhansk province. Whereas the governor famous to Reuters that the bunkers beneath the chemical plant have been "sturdy Soviet-era" bomb shelters, he fearful a Russian airstrike might set off any remaining chemical substances being saved on the facility, as was the case on Tuesday.

"There are civilians there in bomb shelters, there are fairly just a few of them," Serhiy Haidai, the top of Luhansk's regional army administration, informed Reuters on Wednesday.

Haidai added that the Azot plant is "privately-owned" and "we won't know 100% if any chemical substances are left."

"We have been assured that there have been no [chemicals] left, however as we are able to see there are nonetheless some remnants," he mentioned, referring to an airstrike that blew up a tank full of nitric acid on the facility on Tuesday.

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Tuesday's airstrike despatched a cloud of poisonous orange smoke billowing into the sky.

The state of affairs on the Azot chemical plant could seem harking back to the standoff that befell on the Azovstal metal plant in Mariupol, the place Ukrainian troops and civilians holed up for weeks as Russian forces bombed and tried to storm the power as they took management of town, however Haidai mentioned that kind of scene won't play out in Severodonetsk.

"It won't be a second Azovstal as that had an enormous underground metropolis ... which is not there at Azot," he mentioned.

Haidai added that the Ukrainian army didn't set up defensive fortifications on the Azot facility due to the chemical danger.

Based on reviews, Russian forces are on the verge of seizing Severodonetsk, the biggest metropolis within the northern Donbas area nonetheless underneath Ukrainian management, and Ukrainian troops have slowly been withdrawing from town.

Haidai, nevertheless, vowed that Ukrainian forces will proceed to defend Luhansk.

"We'll defend the area to the final metropolis, village, or resident of Luhansk area. We'll do every part doable, and even the unimaginable, to not let the enemy advance additional," he mentioned.