Ukraine said on Friday that its forces may need to withdraw from their last pocket of resistance in Luhansk to avoid being captured by Russian troops who have made a rapid advance in the east, which has shifted the momentum of the three-way war. months.
A withdrawal could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin closer to his goal of fully capturing Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions. His troops gained ground in the two areas collectively known as the Donbas.
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian troops had entered Sievierodonetsk, the largest city in Donbass still controlled by Ukraine, after trying to hold Ukrainian forces for days. Gaidai said 90% of the city’s buildings were damaged.
“The Russians will not be able to capture the Luhansk region in the next few days, as analysts predicted,” Gaidai said on Telegram, referring to Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk across the Siverskiy Donets River. “We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However, it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat.”
Moscow’s separatist representatives said they now control Lyman, a railway hub west of Sievierodonetsk. Ukraine said Russia had captured most of Lyman but that its forces were blocking an advance on Sloviansk, a town a half-hour drive further southwest.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleskiy Arestovych said overnight that the well-organized attack on Lyman showed that Moscow’s military, which was driven out of the capital Kiev in March, was improving its tactics and operations.
Russian troops advanced after breaking through Ukrainian lines last week in the town of Popasna, south of Sievierodonetsk. Russian ground forces have already captured several locations northwest of Popasna, the UK Ministry of Defense said.
Reached by journalists in Russian-controlled territory on Thursday, Popasna was in ruins. The bloated body of a dead man in combat uniform could be seen lying in a courtyard.
Natalia Kovalenko left the basement where she was sheltering to live amid the wreckage of her apartment, with the windows and balcony destroyed. She said a shell hit the courtyard outside, killing two people and wounding eight.
“I just have to fix the window somehow. The wind is still bad,” she said. “We are tired of being so afraid.”
Russia’s gains in the east follow a Ukrainian counteroffensive that pushed Moscow’s forces back from Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, in May. But Ukrainian forces were unable to attack Russian supply lines to Donbass.
Source: CNN Brasil
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