Russia has claimed control of Ukraine’s last stronghold in an eastern province that is key to achieving a major goal of Moscow’s mill war.
The Ukrainian Army General Staff reported on Sunday (Monday AEST) that its forces had withdrawn from Lysychansk in Luhansk province. President Volodymr Zelenskyy acknowledged the withdrawal, but said fighting for the city was still taking place on its outskirts.
If confirmed, Russia’s complete capture of Luhansk would provide its troops with a stronger base from which to advance into the Donbas, a region of mines and factories that President Vladimir Putin is determined to capture in a campaign that could determine the course of the war. whole war.
Russian forces struck the city of Lysychansk during a total attempt to seize the last stronghold of resistance in eastern Ukraine. (AP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin that Russian troops, along with a local separatist militia, “have established full control over the city of Lysychansk” and that they now have all of Luhansk, according to a ministry statement released Sunday .
As is typical with these descriptions, the Russian declaration characterized the victories as “the liberation of the Lugansk People’s Republic.”
The separatists in Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk, which form the Donbas and host large Russian-speaking populations, declared independence from Kyiv in 2014 and their forces have been fighting Ukrainian troops there ever since.
Russia formally recognized the self-proclaimed republics days before its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
In this photo published by the Press Service of the Russian Ministry of Defense, a Russian ground attack aircraft SU-25 fires rockets on a mission at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (AP)
Ukrainian and Russian forces fought fiercely for Lysychansk in the last days after the neighboring city fell last week.
The capture of Lysychansk would give the Russians more territory from which to intensify the attacks on Donetsk.
In recent weeks, it was thought that Russian forces had about half of Donetsk, but it is unclear where things are now.
The fire burned a shopping center in Sloviansk, Ukraine, after being hit by a Russian missile. (Getty)
If Russia imposes itself on the Donbas, Ukraine would lose not only land, but perhaps the bulk of its most capable military forces, paving the way for Moscow to take more territory and strengthen its ability to dictate terms to Kyiv.
Since failing to take Kyiv and other areas of northern and central Ukraine early in the war, Russia has focused on the Donbas, launching fierce bombing and house-to-house fighting that devastated neighboring Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk and the villages. nearby.
Few details emerged from any city during the battles, which decimated their populations as people died or fled.
Russia seizes the key city on the eastern front