Moscow is focused on a war of attrition to conquer the Donbas mining area, partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists
The Russian army concentrated its attacks on Ukraine on the city of Severodonetsk
The Russian army on Thursday reduced the siege on the strategic Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, in the eastern Donbas region, about to complete a hundred days of a war that could last “several months”, according to the United States.
Failed its lightning offensive to bring down the pro-Western government in kyiv, Moscow is concentrating on a war of attrition to conquer the Donbas mining basin, partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists.
The Russian siege in this region, with constant bombing of large urban centers, is beginning to bear fruit.
In Severodonetsk, “80% of the city is occupied” by the Russian forces and there is fighting in its streets, declared the governor of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaidai, in the early hours of Thursday.
The authorities regional authorities reported that at least 80% of the area is occupied by Russian troops and there is fighting in the streets
“The most difficult situation is in the Lugansk region, where the enemy is trying to expel our troops from their positions,” Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeri Zalujny said in an army statement.
“The enemy has an operational advantage in terms of artillery,” the general added, repeating the need for his teams to “transition as quickly as possible” to NATO-type weapons. .
The order coincides with the US announcement of the shipment to kyiv of advanced Himars missile systems, which allow for highly accurate multiple launches, plus anti-tank weapons and four helicopters.
DOZENS OF DEATHS
Although Lugansk appears as the area where the fighting is concentrated, the other Donbas region, Donetsk, is not exempt from hostilities, especially in Sloviansk , about 80 km west of Severodonetsk.
On the outskirts of the city of Donetsk, a former regional capital controlled by pro-Russian rebels, the separatists assured on Wednesday that they cut off one of the two routes that allow the supply of nearby Avdiivka, still in the hands of kyiv.
“The situation in the east is very difficult,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky admitted Wednesday night in an interview with the US media Newsmax.
“We are losing 60 to 100 soldiers per day, killed in action, and about 500 people (are) wounded in action,” he said.
In the south, where Russia also took large swathes of land from the Crimean peninsula, the Ukrainians try to fight back while from Moscow they evoke possible referendums in July to annex the conquered regions.
GLOBAL REPERCUSSION
After almost a hundred days of war, thousands and thousands of deaths and millions of displaced and exiled, the invasion that began on February 24 has shaken the safety map in Europe.
The president Ukrainian Volodimir Zelensky visited the east of the territory on Sunday since the start of the Russian offensive
After pushing Sweden and Finland to apply for NATO membership, the invasion also led the Danes to vote massively for “yes” in a referendum on the country’s entry into the European Union’s defense policy, from which they remained outside for three decades.
But the consequences of the conflict are felt beyond, with the growing threat of a global food crisis due to the blockade in Ukraine of at least 20 million tons of cereals that cannot be exported.< /p>
Western countries are therefore trying to unblock the Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, especially that of Odessa (south), the main gateway for merchandise from the country, one of the world’s leading wheat exporters.
Turkey, as a member of NATO but with fluid relations with Moscow, is also trying to mediate this issue and will discuss the establishment of “safe corridors” for exports with the chief of Russian diplomacy Sergey Lavrov.
Escaping at least for a while from the miseries of war, the Ukrainians enjoyed on Wednesday the victory of their soccer team against Scotland (3- 1) in Glasgow, in the play-off for the 2022 World Cup.
In a game full of emotions, which began with the players singing the anthem at the top of their lungs, the Ukrainians were superior and kept alive the dream of traveling to Qatar if they beat Wales next Sunday.
(With information from AFP)