INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
"Massive" Russian bombardment of Ukraine's battleground eastern Lugansk region and key city Severodonetsk has been "hell" for soldiers
there, Kyiv said, while insisting that defenders would hold "as long as necessary."Moscow's troops have been pummeling eastern Ukraine for
tightening their grip on the strategically important city of Severodonetsk in the Donbas, its twin city of Lysychansk is now coming under
heavier bombardment."The Russian army is massively shelling Lysychansk," Sergiy Gaiday, governor of the Lugansk region, which includes both
cities, wrote on Telegram."They are just destroying everything there..
They destroyed buildings and unfortunately there are casualties."He later wrote that "it's just hell out there" after four months of
long as necessary."Russian forces have been occupying villages in the area, and taking control of the two cities would give Moscow control
of the whole of Lugansk, allowing them to press further into the Donbas.After being pushed back from Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine
following their February invasion, Moscow is seeking to seize a vast eastern swathe of the country.In a briefing Wednesday, the Russian
Defense Ministry claimed responsibility for a missile strike it said killed a number of Ukrainian troops in southern Mykolaiv.In central
Ukrainian city Zaporizhzhia, women were training to use Kalashnikov assault rifles in urban combat as Russian forces edged nearer."Of
course, when you can do something, it's not so scary to take a machine gun in your hands," said Ulyana Kiyashko, 29, after moving through an
improvised combat zone in a basement.'Simply destroys'In his daily address Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also accused the
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had gathered accounts of an "outrageous lack of care to distinguish and protect civilians."Among
hundreds of patients evacuated by train, more than 40% were elderly people or children.Most said Russian or Russian-backed forces were to
blame for a spectrum of gruesome injuries."Although we cannot specifically point to an intention to target civilians, the decision to use
wounded," said MSF emergency coordinator Christopher Stokes.On the Russian side, authorities in the Ukraine-bordering Rostov region said
Wednesday that a fire at an oil refinery might have been caused by a drone strike, saying parts of unmanned aircraft had been found at the
scene.Away from the battlefield, Moscow was locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with EU member Lithuania over the
Moscow, bordering Lithuania and Poland.By blocking goods arriving from Russia, Lithuania says it is simply adhering to European Union-wide
sanctions on Moscow.But Moscow accused Brussels of an "escalation" and summoned the EU's ambassador to Russia.The United States made clear
its commitment to Lithuania as an ally in NATO, which considers an attack against one member an attack on all."We stand by our NATO allies
and we stand by Lithuania," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington.With U.S.-Russia tensions soaring, the State
Geneva Conventions on the humane treatment of prisoners to the pair."It's appalling that a public official in Russia would even suggest the
death penalty for two American citizens that were in Ukraine," Kirby told reporters.In a swipe at Washington, Moscow authorities announced
that the official address of the U.S
embassy there had been changed to "1 Donetsk People's Republic Square" after the name of the breakaway Ukrainian region won a public
poll.Meanwhile in Brussels, ministers unanimously agreed Tuesday to grant Ukraine and neighbor Moldova candidate status for membership in
the European Union.Also on the diplomatic front, Moscow complained that its delegates to an Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) assembly in Britain next month had been refused U.K
visas.'Fight for weapons'Western nations have been pumping billions of dollars of weapons into Ukraine, where Defence Minister Oleksiy
Reznikov tweeted that powerful German-made Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzer artillery had reached his country's forces.But Zelensky reiterated
in his daily address.Ukraine meanwhile said it struck a Black Sea oil drilling platform off the Crimea peninsula because Russia was using it
