Luhansk Military Administration: Russian troops enter Kreminna; fighting on the streets, sports complex on fire

Iryna Balachuk – Monday, 18 April 2022, 09:54

Russian occupying forces have entered the city of Kreminna in the Luhansk region: street fighting continues, evacuation is currently impossible.

Source: Serhiy Haidai, Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, on Facebook and on Belsat broadcast 

According to Haidai: "Today Kreminna is the main hotspot beside Popasna, which has been a hotspot for the last month and a half. Fighting is taking place on the streets of Kreminna now. The Russian army has entered the city, there’s a lot of military equipment. That’s currently the hottest spot.

We begged people to leave, we planned evacuation routes through forests so that they are out of the line of fire, but everything has changed overnight."

Details: Haidai said that Russian troops managed to break through to Kreminna on the night of 17-18 April, but have so far not succeeded in capturing it. As a result, they started shelling the city.

Russian troops targeted 7 residential buildings in Kreminna, as well as the Olimp [Olympus] sports complex, causing a large-scale fire in the latter.

According to Haidai, rescue workers are already working at the site of the fire, in an attempt to prevent the spreading of the fire to the nearby forest.

Haidai could not say how many civilians currently remain in the hotspots across the region. He explained that in cities where active fighting is taking place it is impossible to find out how many people are hiding in basements and shelters.