Regaining the Eastern Fortress, Counterattack Speed
Face-worn Russia hints at nuclear weapons use
▲ Vladimir Putin caricature
The situation is changing rapidly as Ukraine recaptures Riemann, the gateway city to the eastern Donetsk province, just one day following annexation of Russia’s occupied territories. The nuclear threat from Kremlin loyalists is also on the rise, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to “use all means”.
According to Archyde.com news agency on the 1st (local time), the chief of staff of the Ukrainian president released a video of Ukrainian soldiers attaching the Ukrainian flag to a sign that read “Leeman”. The Guardian, a British daily newspaper, said that the day before, President Putin announced the annexation of the four Ukrainian states, Donetsk, Luhansk (Donbas), Zaporiza and Kherson, and signed a treaty to incorporate them into Russian territory. said it was Russia’s defense ministry has officially announced the withdrawal of Lehmann through Telegram, saying that its military is “in danger of being surrounded”.
Ukraine’s restoration of Lehman is considered to be the biggest offense since the defeat of Russian troops in the northwestern Kharkiv region last month. Having reclaimed Lehman, the main supply route for Russian troops in Donbas and the center of railway and logistics, Ukraine opened the way for the advance of Luhansk. “Leemann is the first step towards the liberation of Donbas,” said Serkh Cherevati, spokesman for the Eastern Army of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian army is advancing relentlessly, recapturing even the small town of Torske, which faces the main road going east from Lehman. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address, “Since last week, the number of Ukrainian flags has been increasing in the Donbas region.
There is also the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons. Putin said: “I will use all means to defend the territory. In the case of nuclear weapons, there is a precedent for the use of nuclear weapons by the United States (in Japan).” The head of the Chechen Autonomous Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, a Putin loyalist, directly mentioned the use of nuclear weapons, saying, “We need to take more drastic measures such as declaring martial law in the border area and using low-power nuclear weapons.”
In this regard, the New York Times (NYT) reported that concerns over Putin’s use of tactical nuclear weapons to quell internal dissatisfaction over successive defeats and conscription orders are growing much greater than at the beginning of the war.
However, some analysts say that Russia lacks the capacity to conduct an actual nuclear war. The US think tank Institute for Warfare (ISW) said, “It seems difficult for the Russian military to conduct operations using nuclear weapons on the battlefield in its current state.” On the 2nd (local time), the Constitutional Court of Russia ruled that the territorial annexation treaty was constitutional, AFP news agency reported.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in the name of Spokesperson Lim Su-seok on the 1st, saying, “Our government strongly condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in violation of the UN Charter.”
Reporter Seulgi Lee
Reporter Yoon Yeon-jung
Reporter Lee Jae-yeon