‘It’s just hell there’: Russia intensifies pounding of eastern Ukraine

Russian shelling and air strikes on the industrial outskirts of Sievierodonetsk have intensified

A couple walk past a building destroyed by attacks in Chernihiv, Ukraine (Natacha Pisarenko/AP)

Russia’s military machine has persevered in its ferocious effort to grind down Ukraine’s defences, as the war’s consequences for food and fuel supplies increasingly weighed on minds around the globe after warnings that the fighting could go on for years.

In Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, which in recent weeks has become the focal point of Moscow’s invasion its neighbour, battles raged for the control of multiple villages, the local governor said.