LYSYCHANSK, Ukraine – Russian forces are poised to tighten the noose around thousands of Ukrainian troops for nearly two years. strategically important cities in the fiercely contested Donbas region in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, launched an attack on Ukraine’s frontline that forced Ukraine to urgently send reinforcements to the area.
In a day of fighting that left territory deemed safe in Ukraine’s hands, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that war could brooding for many years. They called on Ukraine’s Western allies to be stable in the long run as Russia actively works to defeat Ukraine through what Mr. Johnson, writing in The Sunday Times of London, Is called a “campaign of attrition.”
The Russians made their initial foray on Sunday in Toshkivka, a small town southeast of the Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk metropolitan areas, where fierce street-by-street fighting and artillery fire broke out. raging for weeks. Sergei Haidai, the region’s military governor, acknowledged that the Russians had “successful” in the Toshkivka region but said that the occupiers “had suffered defeat” after Ukrainian artillery hit Toshkivka’s defenses .
It is unclear who took control of Toshkivka on Sunday night. However, if Moscow’s forces eventually succeed in besieging Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, the thousands of Ukrainian fighters defending the two cities could be trapped. That would bring a hard-won military victory for the Kremlin and bring Russian forces closer to accomplishing President Vladimir V. Putin’s goal. occupied the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
“Heavy fighting in Sievierodonetsk is still ongoing,” Haidai said, adding that the Russian troops “failed and suffered great losses”.
Telephone communications in the area were limited and the bridges leading into Sievierodonetsk were destroyed, making it difficult to get an accurate picture of the situation there. The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, says that Russia has made “small gains” around the city but its offensive over the rest of the Donbas has been “largely stalled. “
“Russian forces are likely to capture Sievierodonetsk in the coming weeks, but at the cost of concentrating most of their existing forces on this small area,” the institute said. said in its latest review.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian soldiers and Moscow-backed separatists had also claimed control of Metolkine, just southeast of Sievierodonetsk. Russia’s state news agency Tass said many of the Ukrainian warplanes surrendered there, although it was not possible to independently verify the claims.
As the Sievierodonetsk region fell further on Sunday, there was an increase in Russian attacks across much of Ukraine – including new shelling near Kharkiv in the north, attacks on Mykolaiv in the north. south and destroyed infrastructure in the eastern and central regions of the country – made it clear that war could still break out far beyond the Donbas, where Russia has refocused its military efforts after failed to capture Kyiv in the spring.
Ukraine is facing an increasingly fierce and bloody war in its east, where Russia is using long-range artillery to bombard cities and military positions. Ukrainian officials have complained that Advanced weapons from their allies arrived too slowly to overturn Russia’s fire advantage, and up to 200 Ukrainian soldiers were killed daily.
Britain’s defense intelligence agency says the slow-moving conflict in the Donbas is demoralizing on both sides, Britain’s defense intelligence agency said on Sunday.
Better understanding of the Russo-Ukrainian War
“Ukrainian forces have likely deserted in recent weeks”, the agency said in its latest public review. But it describes problems within Russia’s ranks as more systemic and serious, including “cases of entire Russian units refusing orders and armed stalemate between officers and soldiers.” their team”.
“Morale problems within Russian forces can be so severe that they are limiting Russia’s ability to achieve operational objectives,” it said.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest, where Russian forces Push out A Russian military spokesman said on Sunday that a few weeks ago, a Russian missile hit a tank repair factory, destroying what the Russian Defense Ministry said were two Urugan missile launchers.
Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister, said on Sunday that “Russia is trying to make Kharkiv a frontline city,” describing the situation there as difficult.
Russian airstrikes also targeted a gas processing plant near the eastern city of Izium, sparking a massive fire and destroying an oil depot in central Dnipropetrovsk, killing one person and destroying the oil storage facility in central Dnipropetrovsk. Another 11 people were injured, Ukrainian officials said.
In the port city of Mykolaiv, which is still in Ukrainian hands, Ukrainian officials said Russian missiles over the weekend also destroyed businesses and infrastructure. Two people were killed in the village of Halystsynove in the same area in a separate strike on Saturday, an attack that caused a fire, area officials said.
But it is in the Donbas, an area that includes plains, farm fields and coal-mining towns not far from the Russian border, that Moscow has used most of its military might in recent weeks. The Sievierodonetsk crater, as military officials refer to as the area around Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, was surrounded by Russian forces for about three-quarters, leaving only a gap to the west where Ukrainian troops came and went by village roads. often bombarded by Russia.
The Russian army moved forward to close the gap. On Sunday in Toshkivka, which serves as a key part of Ukraine’s defensive wall, they appeared to have been partially successful.
Mr. Haidai said that Ukrainian artillery was soon engaged with them, and the outcome was not clear.
Ukrainian battle tanks and several Grad multiple launch rocket systems were seen heading towards the village on Sunday afternoon, smoke billowing from their chassis and steps disturbing the animals. roads in the countryside.
If the Russian forces succeed in breaking through the defenses, they will reduce the mobility of the Ukrainian army in the Sievierodonetsk area. The offensive would also allow Russian forces to threaten some of the remaining supply routes into Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk, where about 70,000 civilians remain, many of them. too old and weak to evacuate.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said this month that the “destiny” of much of eastern Ukraine was being decided in the battle for the two cities.
Their strategic importance partly explains why Ukraine chose to host street fighting there, a risky strategy. In Ukraine’s mind, fighting at close range in Sievierodonetsk negated Russia’s chance of giving it a huge advantage in artillery weapons.
But as Russian forces surrounded troops in Sievierodonetsk and supported troops in Lysychansk, Russian artillery lines hit Ukrainian roads, bridges and positions with thousands of shells. per day, according to Ukrainian estimates.
However, street fighting in the city and battles in the fields around it cost the Russians dearly in terms of lives and equipment, much more than the Ukrainians lost. Ukrainian commanders said. Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Ukraine’s former Defense Minister, said in an interview on Sunday that, after months of fighting, the Russian Army in Ukraine is exhausted and nearing the limit of its resources.
Ukraine’s approach, he and other analysts say, is to make each step as expensive as possible.
“Despite its precarious position, Ukraine chose to fight for these cities in an effort to exhaust its forces,” said Michael Kofman, director of Russia studies at CNA, a research group in Virginia. Russia”. He said in a recent analysis that if the Russians broke through in Sievierodonetsk, their human struggles might still reduce their ability to sustain any advance.
The military governor of Luhansk, Mr. Haidai, said that Russian forces were strengthening their reserves in the surrounding area. As intense shelling hit cities on Sunday, Haidai said that Russian forces bombarded the Azot chemical plant, one of the last strongholds of Ukrainian fighters in Sievierodonetsk, where thousands of Hundreds of civilians are said to be sheltering.
Faced with political pressure to create a victory, former Defense Minister Zagorodnyuk said that the Russian army is pouring all its strength into the battle.
“They needed to show their leadership that they had achieved something,” he said of the troops and weapons thrown into the war.
