Moscow’s forces yesterday set their sights on their next objectives in Ukraine’s Donetsk after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in neighboring Luhansk and the five-month war entered a new phase.
The capture of the city of Lysychansk on Sunday completed the Russian conquest of Luhansk, one of two regions in the Donbas, the industrialized eastern region of Ukraine that has become the site of the biggest battle in Europe in generations.
Both sides have suffered heavy casualties in the fight for Luhansk, particularly during the siege of the twin cities of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk. Both cities have been left in ruins by relentless Russian bombardment.
Photo: AFP
“The city doesn’t exist anymore,” said Nina, a young mother who fled Lysychansk to take refuge in the central city of Dnipro. “It has practically been wiped off the face of the Earth. There is no humanitarian aid distribution center, it has been hit. The building which used to house the center does not exist any more. Just like many of our houses.”
Ukrainian forces yesterday took up new defensive lines in Donetsk, where they still control major cities, while Putin told his troops to “absolutely rest and recover their military preparedness,” while units in other areas keep fighting.
Russian forces shelled the towns of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk overnight, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
“They are now also the main line of assault for the enemy,” he said of the towns.
“There is no safe place without shelling in Donetsk region,” he added.
Since the outset of the conflict, Russia has demanded that Ukraine hand both Luhansk and Donetsk to pro-Moscow separatists, which have declared independent statelets.
“This is the last victory for Russia on Ukrainian territory,” Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a video posted online.
“These were medium-sized cities and this took from 4th April until 4th July — that’s 90 days. So many losses,” he said.
Arestovych said besides the battle for Donetsk, Ukraine was hoping to launch counteroffensives in the south of the nation.
“Taking the cities in the east meant that 60 percent of Russian forces are now concentrated in the east and it is difficult for them to be redirected to the south, and there are no more forces that can be brought in from Russia. They paid a big price for Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk,” he said.
Some military experts said that the hard-fought victory had brought Russian forces little strategic gain and the outcome of what has been dubbed the “battle of the Donbas” remained in the balance.
“I think it’s a tactical victory for Russia, but at an enormous cost,” said Neil Melvin of the RUSI think tank in London.
He compared the battle to the huge fights for meager territorial gains that characterized World War I.
“This has taken 60 days to make very slow progress,” he said. “The Russians may declare some kind of victory, but the key war battle is still yet to come.”
Melvin said that the decisive battle for Ukraine was likely to take place not in the east, where Russia is mounting its main assault, but in the south, where Ukraine has begun a counteroffensive to recapture territory.
“This is where we see the Ukrainians are making progress around Kherson. There are counterattacks beginning there and I think it’s most likely that we’ll see the momentum swing to Ukraine as it tries to then mount a large-scale counteroffensive to push the Russians back,” he said.
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