This Sunday, Ukraine confirmed that a forced withdrawal was occurring in Lysychank to save the lives of Ukraine’s defense forces. In an article written in the New York Times, the writers reported that though it was said that Ukraine had not lost complete control of Lysychansk earlier this Sunday, it was later confirmed by Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in his evening address that forces were forced to withdraw. “People must be saved above all else,” he said.

After a non-stop artillery bombing, Russia’s Defense Minister confirmed that Russian forces had seized control of Lysychansk and a few nearby settlements. The Mayor of Lysychansk, Vadym Lyakh, posted on Facebook that the city suffered its heaviest shelling, with at least six dead and a dozen more injured. Russia had used the strategy of using long-range artillery, something it was more advanced in than Ukraine, to capture several important cities such as Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, during the war.

Lysychansk was the last city in the Luhansk Province that was still in Ukraine’s control, apart from Bilohorivka, a town up north. Losing Lysychansk to Russia would be a considerably large blow to Ukraine since the region was rich with coal and gaining full control of the region would give Russian forces a base to regroup and mount attacks on cities to the Southwest, like Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. According to residents who fled the city, the Ukraine forces were now defending the border line that separated Luhansk province from Donetsk province and stopped the attempt made by Russians to cut the last road to the village of Verkhnokamianske.

Now, the question is, can Ukraine stop the rapid advancement of Russian forces, or will it be taken over by the Russian government once again?