The Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk is now under “full occupation” of Russian forces after a weeks-long battle.
Mayor Oleksand Stryuk told national television: “The city is now under the full occupation of Russia. They are trying to establish their own order, as far as I know, they have appointed some kind of commander.”
The Russian news agency Interfax also cited that the Defense Ministry said the city of Luhansk was now under full control of Russian forces.
Formerly home to more than 100,000 people, Severodonetsk is now largely destroyed after concentrated bombing during the Russian offensive.
According to reports, the plan of Ukrainian officials was never to defend the Russian advance, but to fight a war of attrition that left Vladimir Putin’s forces vulnerable to a counteroffensive.
After withdrawing from Severodonestk, Ukrainian forces will seek to mount another defense in the nearby city of Lysyschansk, across the Siverskyi Donets River.
it comes when it was revealed that several Russian generals have been removed from their commands by military leaders as a result of the progress of the Ukrainian war, the UK Defense Intelligence has said.
They include the commander of the Air Force, General Colonel Andrei Serdyukov; and the commander of the Southern Army General Forces Group Alexander Dvornikov, according to the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Defense.
On Friday, it was revealed that Ukrainian forces had been ordered to withdraw from Severodonetsk after weeks of fierce street fighting, to limit more casualties and regroup.
The move, which is the biggest strategic loss for Ukraine since the withdrawal from Mariupol, will likely be seen by Russia as a major victory.
Ukrainian officials said Severodonetsk troops were ordered to withdraw, as there was very little left to defend the bombed eastern city.
Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian television that “staying in broken positions for many months just for the sake of staying there makes no sense.”
The fate of hundreds of civilians trapped in a chemical plant is unknown.
South of Lysychansk, Ukrainian soldiers were forced to withdraw from the cities of Hirske and Zolote in the face of overwhelming Russian forces, according to an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said the withdrawal did not mean his country was losing the war, noting that Russia had wanted to occupy the eastern region of Donbas on May 9th.
Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and its environs are the last major pockets of Ukrainian resistance in the Luhansk region, 95% of which are under the control of Russian and local separatist forces.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom warns of the pressure for a peace agreement
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, said that he fears that Ukraine may face pressure to reach a peace agreement with Russia that is not in his interest, due to the economic consequences of the war in Europe.
“Many countries say that this is a European war that is unnecessary … and therefore the pressure will increase to encourage – to coerce, perhaps – the Ukrainians to a bad peace,” he said.
Johnson, who is in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, for a Commonwealth summit, said the consequences that Russian President Vladimir Putin could have on his way to Ukraine would be dangerous to international security and “a long-term economic disaster.”
He stressed his personal support for Ukraine by telling the BBC that if the British government decided that “we should abandon the Ukrainian cause because it was simply becoming too difficult and … the cost … was too great in terms of ‘inflation… economic damage “would resign as he would have agreed to have” lost a very important argument. “
The UK Defense Intelligence said that General Dvornikov had probably been for a time acting as Commander-in-Chief in Ukraine.
The pair are just the latest officials to have lost their positions as a result of the course of the war, according to UK intelligence officials, with Lt. Gen. Serhiy Kisel, who commanded the elite of the 1st Army. Guard tanks, which are also said to have probably been suspended for their failure to capture Kharkiv, and Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, who commanded the Russian Black Sea Fleet, are said to have probably been fired by the sinking of the cruiser. Moscow in April.
Ukraine has some success in the Kherson region
Southern Forces Group (SGF) command is likely to be transferred to Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, as the SGF continues to play a central role in Russia’s offensive on the Donbas, the Kingdom’s Defense Intelligence added. United.
For more than 30 years, General Colonel Surovikin’s career is said to have been shrouded in accusations of corruption and brutality.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that its troops had some success in the Kherson region, pushing the Russians back from defensive positions near the village of Olhine, as a result of the last of a series. of Ukrainian counterattacks.
Meanwhile, a Russian attack on a military base in Yavoriv, in western Ukraine, injured four people, Lviv Governor Maxim Kozitsky said on Saturday in a video post.
Kozitsky said six missiles were fired from the Black Sea, four hit its target and two were intercepted and destroyed before hitting the facility.
On Friday, President Zelenskyy told a crowd in Glastonbury via a video link: “In Ukraine we would also like to live life as before and enjoy freedom and this wonderful summer, but we cannot do it because it has happened. the most terrible: Russia has stolen our peace. “