But a Ukrainian official denied that severodonetsk – the center of weeks of fierce fighting – is besieged, saying government troops had driven Russian forces out of its outskirts.
As the fight for Ukraine’s industrial sector broke out on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for “direct serious talks” between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
The German chancellor’s office said EU leaders “insisted on an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops” in an 80-minute phone call with the Russian leader.
Since failing to capture the capital Kyiv in the early stages of the war, Russia has shifted its focus to the eastern Donbass region as it attempts to consolidate areas under its control.
“The situation is very difficult, especially in those areas of the Donbass and Kharkiv regions, where the Russian military is trying to squeeze at least some consequences for itself,” Ukraine’s President Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry used Moscow’s name for Lyman, saying “the city of Krasny Lyman has been completely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists”.
Lyman is located on the road to Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk, which was described by a police officer in Lugansk province as “now surrounded”.
But regional governor Sergei Gede told Ukrainian television: “Severodonetsk has not been cut… there is still the possibility of providing humanitarian aid.”
His remarks came as Russia, in another exercise in military muscle-flexing, said it had successfully tested hypersonic missiles in the Arctic.
Inside Severodentsk, where an estimated 15,000 civilians live, a local official said “constant shelling” made it difficult to get in or out.
The head of the city’s military and civil administration, Oleksandr Styuk, said, “The evacuation is very unsafe, it is different cases when we manage to evacuate people. Now the priority is for the injured and those in need of serious medical assistance. ”
Water supplies were also running out rapidly, as the lack of electricity meant that the city’s well pumps were no longer working, he said, adding that residents had been without cellphone connections for more than two weeks.
Lugansk Governor Gede said Saturday night that the only road maintaining contact with the outside world was expected to be the epicenter of continued Russian attacks.
“The next week will be very difficult, as Russia spends all its resources on seizing Severodonetsk, or cutting off the oblast from communication with Ukraine,” he said.
As France and Germany called for talks aimed at ending the war that has been generating millions of refugees, Saturday’s phone call with Putin also focused on an impending global food security crisis.
In addition to capturing major port cities such as Mariupol, Russia has used its warships to cut off others still in Ukrainian hands, preventing grain supplies from being carried out.
Russia and Ukraine supply about 30 percent of the wheat traded in global markets.
Russia has tightened its own exports and Ukraine has sizable stockpiles, soaring prices and cutting down on availability around the world.
Instead of blaming Western sanctions, Putin has repeatedly dismissed any responsibility.
But on Saturday, he told Macron and Scholz that Russia was “ready” to look for ways to allow more wheat into the global market.
The Kremlin quoted him as saying, “Russia is ready to help find alternatives to uninterrupted exports of grain, including Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports.”
He also called for the lifting of restrictions to allow “an increase in the supply of Russian fertilizers and agricultural products” on the global market.
According to US media reports, the urgent call by Zelensky for more advanced weapons from Ukraine’s Western allies, with Washington agreeing to send advanced long-range rocket systems, appears to be paying off.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby did not confirm plans to deliver the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, a highly mobile device capable of firing up to 300 kilometers (186 mi), which Kyiv has said is badly needed.
But he added that Washington is “still committed to helping them succeed on the battlefield”.
In a phone call on Saturday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Zelensky that his country would continue to help “by providing the equipment they need”, his office said.
But Putin warned Macron and Scholz that increasing arms supplies to Ukraine would be “dangerous” and risk “further instability”.
He spoke after the Russian military said it had successfully fired one of its Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles at a range of about 1,000 kilometers in the Arctic.
As Zelensky tries to increase international pressure on Moscow, he will speak to EU leaders on sanctions on Russian oil at an emergency summit on Monday.
The measure is being negotiated by Hungary, which Prime Minister Viktor Orban has close ties with Putin.