The military situation for Ukraine’s defenders in eastern Donbass is “extremely difficult,” the Luhansk Oblast governor said after Russian attacks intensified in an attempt to seize Severodonetsk and Lisichansk.
Sergei Haidai said last night that Russia had said 568 civilians had been hidden at the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, the last site held by Ukrainian forces in the city on the east bank of the Seversky Donets River.
Neighboring Lisichansk on the West Bank was shelled “en masse,” Haidai added, while analysts warned of an imminent Russian breakthrough, meaning the invaders were 4 miles (7 km) southeast of the city.
Konrad Muzika, a military analyst, said the situation in Lisichansk seemed “increasingly bleak for Ukrainians” after the Russians broke through defensive lines near the southern villages of Toshkivka and Ustinovka.
Haidai acknowledged that “the situation on the entire Luhansk front is extremely difficult” in an earlier post on his Telegram channel, saying Russia was launching a “large-scale offensive” using reserve forces.
Rodion Miroshnik, Russia’s self-proclaimed republic’s ambassador to Luhansk, said its forces were “moving south to Lisichansk” and predicted an inevitable victory. “The coming hours must lead to significant changes in the balance of power in the area,” he told Telegram.
The conquest of Severodonetsk and Lisichansk will hand over to Russia almost the entire Luhansk region, one of the two regions of Donbass. Moscow’s goal may be to demonstrate to the West that it can achieve military victory ahead of the EU, G-7 and NATO summits that follow on Thursday this week.
Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky predicted that Russia would step up attacks ahead of the EU summit. During the night, he added: “Russia is very nervous about our activities” and continued: “We are defending Lisichansk and Severodonetsk. This whole region is the hardest, there are the hardest battles. “
Music said Ukraine should have withdrawn from Severodonetsk some time ago and focused on defending Lisichansk, which is at a higher altitude than its close neighbor and is theoretically easier to defend. But a flanking offensive across the river from the southeast now threatens him.
The drone footage shows artillery strikes on the Ukrainian village of Toshkivka, where Russian forces have broken through defensive lines. Photo: Video received from Reuters / Reuters
The two countries have been embroiled in an intensifying struggle over the past six weeks for Severodonetsk, with thousands killed. Ukraine almost certainly suffered the most from a prolonged artillery bombardment by the Russians, which destroyed dozens of buildings.
A key adviser to Zelensky’s cabinet hinted last night that Ukraine had launched missile strikes against three gas platforms in the Black Sea on Monday. Alexei Arestovich warned that Russia could retaliate by striking “Kyiv’s decision-making centers” and urged residents, especially in the central regions, not to ignore air raid sirens in the coming days.
Russian officials said on Monday that Ukraine had launched missile strikes against gas platforms in the Black Sea south of Odessa, which Kyiv said were being used for military intelligence and to control much of the water area.
Seven people are missing and three were injured in the strikes, the head of occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said on Monday. One of the hit platforms remained on fire, a Russian politician told RIA Novosti on Tuesday, and the flames are still being detected by NASA’s information platform in the area.
The three offshore platforms, the Boyko Towers, were seized from Moscow by Ukraine in 2014. Ukrainian sources say they are not used for gas production, although Russia has said otherwise and RIA Novosti reported that the fire has spread to the well of most the affected platform.
Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia would further strengthen its armed forces as a result of “potential military threats” in a speech to a group of Russian military academy graduates.
“We will continue to develop and strengthen our armed forces, taking into account potential military threats and risks,” he said. Putin added that the Russian military is being supplied with the S-500 surface-to-air missile system and said that this year Russia will deploy the newly tested Sarmatian intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of more than 10 nuclear warheads.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Russian television was now broadcasting in the entire occupied Kherson region to the south, captured by the invaders during the first week of the war.
This is the latest step in the forced Russification of the occupied regions of Ukraine, where Russia has tried to issue passports, introduce the ruble, and ask teachers to change curricula and other measures.
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Two American volunteer soldiers captured in battles north of Kharkov two weeks ago were filmed on Russian television in custody in the self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk, some distance from where they were taken.
Alexander Drucke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, both from Alabama, are fighting as part of the Ukrainian army. The US State Department said it was familiar with the film and was “watching closely”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with NBC News that men “should be held accountable for the crimes they have committed” and are not covered by the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Prisoners of War.
Three other foreign fighters, Britain’s Aiden Aslin and Sean Piner and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun, were sentenced to death by a Donetsk court earlier this month, although they have time to appeal. Russia is not carrying out the death penalty, but the separatist republic, unrecognized by the West, is carrying it out.
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