Today, Friday, the Russian army continues its special operation by striking the sites of the Ukrainian military infrastructure and liberating the Donbass lands in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces are closing in on the strategic city of Severodonetsk. The Russian army is focusing its efforts control of the Donbass region Which is witnessing a war of attrition following a conflict that has been going on for nearly three months, andMoscow now controls “regarding 20%” of its territory According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
And it seems that Moscow’s tactic to gradually bite off parts of the Donbass region is paying off. The British Ministry of Defense said that Russia is now achieving tactical success in the Donbass, adding that Russia controls more than 90% of Lugansk Oblast and is likely to control it completely in the next two weeks.
According to Kyiv, the Ukrainian forces have entrenched, especially in an industrial area under Russian bombardment, as happened at the end of the long siege of the strategic city of Mariupol (southeast), the bulk of which was destroyed and taken over by the Russians in late April.
In recent days, Ukrainian leaders have accused Moscow of intending to make Severodontik a “new Mariupol”.
Russia confirmed Thursday that it had stopped the flow of foreign “mercenaries” who want to fight alongside the Kyiv army in Ukraine, following inflicting heavy losses on them in recent weeks. A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry noted that the number of foreign fighters in Ukraine “almost halved”, from 6,600 to 3,500, and “a large number of them prefer to leave Ukraine as soon as possible.”
And the Ukrainian forces lose up to 100 soldiers every day, the Ukrainian president confirmed in an interview with the American news website “Newsmax” published on Wednesday.
“The situation in the east is very difficult (…) We lose 60 to 100 soldiers a day in combat About 500 are injured.
In the south of the country, Ukrainians are concerned regarding the possibility of annexing the areas controlled by Russian forces, as Moscow is talking regarding holding referendums from July to annex them.
Battles and shelling continue, especially in the Kherson region, part of which the Russians have taken over, and where the population suffers from a shortage of medicines and needs humanitarian assistance, according to Kyiv.
In the context of positions, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Thursday that the West should prepare for a “prolonged war of attrition” in Ukraine, speaking in Washington following a meeting with US President Joe Biden.
He reiterated once once more that NATO does not want to enter into a direct confrontation with Russia, but in turn pointed to the “responsibility” of NATO in providing support to Ukraine.
