Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared victory in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine after Ukrainian forces withdrew from their last bastion of resistance in the province.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoig told Putin at a televised meeting on Monday that Russian forces had taken control of Luhansk, which together with the neighboring Donetsk province constitute Ukraine’s industrial heartland, the Donbas.
Shoigu told Putin that the “operation” was completed on Sunday after Russian troops invaded the city of Lysychansk, the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in Luhansk.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported on state television Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the left, about the Ukrainian war. (AP)
Putin, in turn, said that military units “that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory” in Luhansk, “must rest, increase their combat capabilities.”
Putin’s statement came as Russian forces tried to press his offensive deeper into eastern Ukraine after the Ukrainian army confirmed that its forces had withdrawn from Lysychansk on Sunday. Luhansk Governor Serhii Haidai said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from the city to avoid being surrounded.
“There was a risk of a siege of Lysychansk,” Haidai told the Associated Press, adding that Ukrainian troops could have held out for a few more weeks, but potentially paid too high a price.
“We have managed to do the centralized withdrawal and evacuate all the injured,” Haidai said. “We recovered all the equipment, so from that point on the retreat was well organized.”
Russia claimed control of the city of Lysychansk, Ukraine’s last stronghold in the eastern Luhansk province. Russia’s Defense Ministry posted photos of its soldiers waving the country’s flag in the city. (AP)
The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces were now focusing their efforts on advancing towards the Siversk, Fedorivka and Bakhmut line in the Donetsk region, about half of which is controlled by Russia. The Russian army has also intensified bombing of the main Ukrainian strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, deeper in Donetsk.
On Sunday, six people, including a 9-year-old girl, were killed in the Russian bombing of Sloviansk and another 19 were injured, according to local authorities. Kramatorsk was also criticized on Sunday.
An intelligence briefing by the British Ministry of Defense supported the assessment of the Ukrainian army, noting that Russian forces “now almost certainly” will go on to capture Donetsk. The briefing said the conflict in Donbas has been “a lot and wear and tear” and is unlikely to change in the coming weeks.
Although the Russian army has a large advantage in firepower, military analysts say it has no significant superiority in the number of troops. This means that Moscow has no resources to gain land quickly and can only move slowly, depending on heavy artillery and rocket bombing to soften Ukrainian defenses.
Ukrainian commanders said their forces had made a planned withdrawal from Luhansk in the east of the country. (AP)
Putin has made capturing the entire Donbas a key target in his war in Ukraine, now in its fifth month. Moscow-backed separatists in the Donbas have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014, when they declared Kyiv independence after Russia’s annexation of Crimea to Ukraine.
Russia formally recognized the self-proclaimed republics days before its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the withdrawal, but promised that Ukrainian forces will fight again.
“If the command of our army removes people from certain points on the front where the enemy has the greatest superiority of fire, in particular this applies to Lysychansk, it means only one thing: we will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increased supply of modern weapons, “Zelenskyy said.
Russia seizes the key city on the eastern front