KYIV | The Russian army continues to advance towards Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine and Kyiv, worried about a risk of overrun, demands more heavy weapons to match the Russian firepower.

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In certain regions of eastern Ukraine where the Russian offensive has been concentrated for weeks, “the enemy is clearly superior, in equipment, in number of soldiers”, recognized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday evening. But Ukrainian forces “are resisting (this) extremely violent offensive,” he added in his daily video message.

“We need the help of our partners, and especially weapons,” he pleaded, hours after his Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba had called for more heavy weapons.

Ukraine wishes to receive mobile units capable of sending several rockets simultaneously. “It is really the weapon that we badly need,” said Mr. Kouleba after discussions with government officials and business leaders at the Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland).

“The battle for Donbass is very similar to the battles of the Second World War,” he explained to the press.

Some villages and towns there "have been reduced to ruins by Russian artillery fire, by Russian systems launching multiple rockets" - a type of weapon lacking in his country, detailed the minister.

The Russian forces are getting closer every day a little closer to Severodonetsk, the capture of which is essential for them to fully control the Donbass, a mining basin already partly occupied by pro-Russian separatists.

They are close enough to be able to fire mortars on the city, populated by around 100,000 inhabitants before the war, which "is simply being destroyed", with, already, fighting on the outskirts, Serguiï assured Wednesday Gaïdaï, the governor of the region.

"Not surrounded"

However, according to him, the city "is not surrounded", contrary to what an official of the pro-Russian separatists said.

About 15,000 people are still there and in nearby villages, despite the constant shelling, he said.

In this region, the towns on the front line have been emptied of their inhabitants, the recalcitrant, often elderly, spending most of their time hiding in cellars.

As in the town of Soledar, a few tens of kilometers from Severodonetsk, where Natalia, 47, went up into the open air “just to see people”. "We need to know that we are not alone and that there is always life around here," she said.

In the nearby town of Lysychansk, police have taken over funeral services to bury the dead, Gaidai said. At least 150 people must have been buried there in a mass grave, he added.

According to the Ukrainian presidency, in the past 24 hours at least three people have been killed in this city in the Lugansk region, and four civilians have died in the Donetsk region.

In addition, in the Kharkiv area (north-east), two people died in the bombardment of Balakliya while two deaths were also recorded in the south of the country, in the Mykolaiv region.

"Countries that are dragging their feet on the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine must understand that every day they spend deciding, weighing different arguments, people are killed", hammered in Davos the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs . 240 children in particular have died since the launch of the Russian offensive, according to the attorney general's office Faced with concerns about Ukraine's current inability to export its grain due to the blocking of its ports by the Russians, it has reports Kyiv's discussions with the United Nations on the possibility of safe passage from the port of Odessa.

Speaking by videoconference to Davos, President Zelensky for his part called on his Western allies on Wednesday to stop sparing Russia or its interests.

“Whatever the Russian state does, there is always someone to say: let’s take its interests into account. This year in Davos, we heard it again,” he lamented.

"We must do everything possible so that (...) the interests of the Ukrainians are not supplanted by the interests of those who are always in a hurry to rush to another appointment with the dictator", he said. he said, without naming Russian President Vladimir Putin.

«United Europe»

Earlier Wednesday, he had called for the "support of a united Europe", deploring the lack of cohesion of Westerners in the face of this war which has just entered its fourth month.

On the southern front, Moscow is busy consolidating its hold on the territories conquered for three months.

Russia has thus announced that it will allow residents of the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions to apply for a Russian passport via “a simplified procedure”. Ukraine immediately denounced a measure demonstrating Moscow's desire to lead a pure and simple annexation of these territories.

"The forced granting of passports to Ukrainians in Kherson and Zaporizhia is further proof of the criminal aim of Russia's war against Ukraine," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On the diplomatic front, European Council President Charles Michel said he remained "confident" of an agreement on an EU embargo on Russian oil by the start of the European Council on Monday, despite the Hungarian deadlock.

For his part, Dmytro Kouleba said on Twitter on Thursday that he had had his first telephone conversation with his new French counterpart Catherine Colonna and "have agreed with her on the need to intensify the pressure of sanctions on Russia, including an oil embargo" .

An essential measure according to Kyiv, which on Wednesday in Davos called on the international community to "kill Russian exports".

Also in Davos, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “convinced” on Thursday that Russia would not win the war and that President Vladimir Putin would not be allowed to “dictate” peace.