Russia says it now controls Ukraine’s Luhansk region, one of the two eastern regions that have been the focus of its invasion of Ukraine.
This announcement comes hours after Ukraine’s military said that it had withdrawn from the city of Lsyschansk, the last major Ukrainian controlled holdout in the region. “In order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw,” the military said on Facebook.
Ukrainian forces have held forth in this pocket of Luhansk for months; first in Sievierodonetsk, then in Lsyschansk. But Moscow’s strategy of bombarding from the ground and air for weeks, followed by advancing troops and tanks, forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw to the east.
Russia had superiority in multiple facets of the fight, especially its long-range artillery, Ukrainian officials said. “They attacked the city with unexplainably brutal tactics,” said Serhiy Haidai, the exiled Luhansk regional governor in a post on Telegram. “If in Sievierodonetsk, some houses and administrative buildings survived through a month of street fighting, then in Lysychansk the same administrative buildings were completely destroyed in a shorter period of time.”
Luhansk and Donetsk make up the Donbas region of Ukraine, where violence has been incessant ever since 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The coal and steel-producing Donbas, which has a predominantly Russian-speaking population, has long been prized by Putin.
After its failure to capture the capital, Kyiv, and the second largest city, Kharkiv, earlier in the war, Russia refocused its military efforts in eastern Ukraine, with parts of Donbas seeing the most intense fighting. Now that Luhansk is largely controlled by Russia, neighboring Donetsk could soon fall.
The last two Ukrainian held cities in Donetsk, Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, are less than 50 miles from Lsyschansk. Other cities like Mariupol or Donetsk itself have been under Russian control for some time.
Kramatorsk and Slovyansk have sustained Russia’s attacks for months, including the deadly attack on Kramatosk’s main train station in April. If they fall, the Kremlin will effectively control the entirety of the Donbas region.
The full capture of the Donbas would give Russia a major strategic victory, expanding its control over Ukraine’s southeast and further cementing the strip of land connecting Russia and Crimea.
This announcement comes hours after Ukraine’s military said that it had withdrawn from the city of Lsyschansk, the last major Ukrainian controlled holdout in the region. “In order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw,” the military said on Facebook.
Ukrainian forces have held forth in this pocket of Luhansk for months; first in Sievierodonetsk, then in Lsyschansk. But Moscow’s strategy of bombarding from the ground and air for weeks, followed by advancing troops and tanks, forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw to the east.
Russia had superiority in multiple facets of the fight, especially its long-range artillery, Ukrainian officials said. “They attacked the city with unexplainably brutal tactics,” said Serhiy Haidai, the exiled Luhansk regional governor in a post on Telegram. “If in Sievierodonetsk, some houses and administrative buildings survived through a month of street fighting, then in Lysychansk the same administrative buildings were completely destroyed in a shorter period of time.”
Luhansk and Donetsk make up the Donbas region of Ukraine, where violence has been incessant ever since 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The coal and steel-producing Donbas, which has a predominantly Russian-speaking population, has long been prized by Putin.
After its failure to capture the capital, Kyiv, and the second largest city, Kharkiv, earlier in the war, Russia refocused its military efforts in eastern Ukraine, with parts of Donbas seeing the most intense fighting. Now that Luhansk is largely controlled by Russia, neighboring Donetsk could soon fall.
The last two Ukrainian held cities in Donetsk, Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, are less than 50 miles from Lsyschansk. Other cities like Mariupol or Donetsk itself have been under Russian control for some time.
Kramatorsk and Slovyansk have sustained Russia’s attacks for months, including the deadly attack on Kramatosk’s main train station in April. If they fall, the Kremlin will effectively control the entirety of the Donbas region.
The full capture of the Donbas would give Russia a major strategic victory, expanding its control over Ukraine’s southeast and further cementing the strip of land connecting Russia and Crimea.
