Kyiv, April 20 : Russia poured more troops into Ukrainian cities and towns in what is being described as an attempt to slice the country in two in a potentially pivotal battle for control of the eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories. Khaleej Times reported. The fighting unfolded along hundreds of miles in the Donbas region and if successful, it would give President Vladimir Putin a victory following the failed attempt by his forces to storm and capture the capital, Kyiv. In Mariupol, the devastated port city in the Donbas, Russian military dropped heavy bombs to flatten what was left of a sprawling steel plant and hit a hospital where hundreds were staying. The Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that Russian forces were continuing to mount offensives at various locations in the east as its forces probe for weak points in the Ukrainian lines, adding that defeating the last resistance in the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol remains Russia’s top priority. The eastern cities of Kharkiv and Kramatorsk have also come under deadly Russian attack along with the areas around Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro west of the Donbas which have hit with missiles. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said Moscow’s forces bombarded numerous Ukrainian military sites, including troop concentrations and missile-warhead storage depots, in or near several cities or villages. Despite claims by the Russians that they are hitting only military sites, residential areas continue to be hit resulting in civilian casualties. A Russian victory in the Donbas would deprive Ukraine of the industrial assets concentrated there, including mines, metals plants and heavy-equipment factories. Key to the campaign is the capture of Mariupol, which would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, seized from Ukraine in 2014, thus freeing Russian troops to move elsewhere in the Donbas. ACL1441