Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the return of Severodonetsk would cost a great deal of equipment and troops if the eastern Ukrainian city fell to Russian forces.
Zelensky did so on Monday in front of reporters, as Russian forces appear ready to take over the city amid heavy fighting, Ukrainian Pravda reported. The recognition comes after Russian forces made progress in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region after being repulsed during an earlier phase of the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to take control of Luhansk, as well as the Donetsk region in the southwest, where Kremlin-backed separatists have declared breakaway republics along Ukraine’s eastern border. In addition, there are indications that the redeployed Russian troops are succeeding in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a Facebook post earlier Monday that Ukrainian troops retain control of Severodonetsk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said taking over the eastern city of Severodonetsk would cost a fortune if it was captured by Russian troops. The explosion was filmed in Severodonetsk during heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops on May 30, 2022. ARIS MESSINIS / Getty Images
Sergei Haidai, head of the military administration in Luhansk, told the Telegram on Monday that “the situation in Severodonetsk has deteriorated somewhat.” He said Ukrainian forces were holding positions in their industrial zone after capturing half the city.
Asked whether Ukrainian forces should withdraw from Severodonetsk, Zelensky told reporters that a counterattack to retake the city would take five times as much equipment and troops.
“If you go to better positions, it will be very expensive for you to return, in terms of the number of killed, the number of losses,” Zelensky said, according to Ukrainska Pravda. “If we decide to attack later, we will lose much more.”
Zelensky said Ukrainian forces held Severodonetsk and that both approaches posed their own risks. Decisions will be made based on future developments, he said.
Russian forces are now “tactically succeeding” in Donbass and could take full control of Luhansk later this month, the UK Ministry of Defense concluded in an assessment of the conflict last week.
Alexei Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told the Financial Times in an earlier interview that the country was in a “very difficult” battle against Russia in the Donbass region, suggesting that strategic relinquishment could help win the war.
“The temporary loss of territory is not a tragedy,” he told the Financial Times. “The tragedy will be the loss of the country.”
Haidai said in a telegram that the shelling in Severodonetsk and nearby Lisichansk had increased tenfold. He said other cities in the Luhansk region are facing a situation similar to Mariupol, a port city in the south where intense fighting is taking place and which Russia now claims is under its control.
“Now the Russians are leveling Severodonetsk and Lisichansk,” Haidai said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russia was achieving its goal of protecting people in the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
“Measures have been taken to ensure their protection,” he said, according to Reuters.
Newsweek asked the Russian government for comment.
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