While the Russians can keep up heavy, continuous fire for hours at a time, the defenders can’t match the enemy in either weapons or ammunition and must use their ammo more judiciously.

He urged his nation’s fighters to endure for the ‘future of your family, your children, and therefore the whole of Ukraine.’

About 12,000 people remain in Sievierodonetsk, from a pre-war population of 100,000.

With the conflict now in its 4th month, it’s a high-stakes campaign that could dictate the course of the entire war.

The national police chief told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Monday that criminal investigations into the deaths of more than 12,000 Ukrainians included some found in mass graves.

‘We live on the front line now,’ said Svitlana Kaplun, whose family fled as shelling reached their neighborhood in the city of Krasnohorivka.