After having removed the Russian forces from the two largest cities of the country, the capital kyiv at the end of March and the beginning of April then Kharkiv in May, the Ukrainians have recognized for a few days “difficulties” in the Donbass, formed by the oblasts of Lugansk and Donetsk.
Moscow is concentrating its firepower precisely on the Ukrainian redoubt in the Lugansk region, trying to surround the cities of Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also reported heavy fighting in progress nearby, near the localities of Popasna and Bakhmout, which draws a strategy of encirclement.
According to the head of the military administration of Bakhmout, Serguiï Kalian, the Russians aim “to encircle the cities of Lysytchansk and Severodonetsk, with subsequent access to the administrative border of the Lugansk region” to perfect their hold there.
‘One of Putin’s last options’
“Previous attempts to advance there from the north and south have failed. So they are now trying to go east, through Severodonetsk. This is one of the last options available to Putin, ”explains the former Dutch soldier Mart de Kruif to our colleagues from the Nieuwsblad.
Severodonetsk is bombarded “24 hours a day” by the Russians, who “use scorched earth tactics, they deliberately destroy the city”, the Ukrainian governor of Lugansk oblast, Serguiï Gaïdaï, warned on Sunday.
The fate of Severodonetsk is inevitably reminiscent of that of Mariupol, the large port city in the south-east almost completely destroyed following several weeks of siege.
A southern fringe of this coal basin has been two pro-Russian separatist republics since 2014, and it was to defend them from an alleged “genocide” that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 a “special military operation”, a few days later. having recognized the independence of these self-proclaimed republics, but within borders covering the whole of Donbass.
