Another part of the Ukrainian army continues all the same to fight inside the city
while the twin town of Lyssytchansk, separated from Sievierodonetsk by the Donets River, remains fully under Ukrainian control
he assured on Telegram.
Sievierodonetsk Mayor Alexander Striouk made a similar estimate, telling Reuters that the Russian army occupies 60% of the city, against 20% for the Ukrainian army, the rest being a buffer zone or a no man’s land
separating the belligerents.
” The 20% [restants] are fiercely defended by our armed forces. Our troops hold the defensive lines. Attempts are made to push back the Russian troops. We hope that, despite everything, we will liberate the city. »
Mayor Striouk reiterated that the 12,000 to 13,000 residents remaining in the city, which was almost completely destroyed by the Russian offensive, face constant shelling
and street fights
. They live without electricity and lack water, food and medicine.
A woman searches for personal effects in the rubble of her house destroyed by a bombardment on Wednesday in Sloviansk. According to AFP, three people died and six others were injured when missiles slammed into the city on Wednesday.
Photo: Getty Images/AFP/ARIS MESSINIS
Evacuations of civilians were interrupted on Monday when a convoy used for this purpose was hit by a Russian strike in Lysytchansk, killing a French journalist. The last link between Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk is a bridge of the T1302 highway, nicknamed the road of life
by the Ukrainian authorities.
Governor Gaïdaï already seems to be anticipating the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Sievierodonetsk towards Lyssytchansk, in the west. The two towns are the last in the Luhansk region not to be fully under Russian control.
” If the Russians manage to take full control of Sievierodonetsk within two to three days, they will begin installing artillery and mortars and bombard Lysychansk more intensely. »
If the Russian army managed to take control of the twin cities, it would find itself in a position to launch an assault on the portions of the Donetsk region which still elude it, and in particular the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
A good strategic move by Kyiv, says think tank
Conquering the Luhansk and Donetsk regions has been the Kremlin’s strategic priority since Russian troops were forced to abandon their offensive on the capital, kyiv. The Russian army has also recently been pushed back in the Kharkiv region, the scene of a successful counter-offensive by the Ukrainian army.
According to AFP, a cluster munition missile strike killed at least one person and injured two on Wednesday in Soledar, a town equidistant from Sloviansk and Sievierodonetsk.
Photo: Getty Images/AFP/ARIS MESSINIS
Despite the possible fall of Sievierodonetsk, theInstitute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, believes kyiv has made a wise choice in not throwing more of its forces into the battle for control of the city.
The decisions not to commit more resources to saving Sievierodonestk and the decision to withdraw from it are strategically sound, if painful
he wrote in his most recent daily bulletin.
Ukraine must manage its more limited resources and focus on reclaiming important territory rather than defending territory whose control will not determine the outcome of the war or the conditions for a renewal of the war.
According to the ISW, this is precisely what kyiv is doing by carrying out a new counter-offensive in the Kherson region, the only one where Russian troops have managed to set foot west of the Dnieper River.
If this situation were to continue when the fighting stopped, Russia would find itself in a very favorable position
in the event of a resumption of hostilities. Otherwise, Ukraine would have a more advantageous position to defend itself.
With troops stationed in Crimea, the Russian army quickly captured the Kherson region at the start of the conflict, but the Ukrainian army claimed earlier this week that it was advancing towards the villages of Andriyivka, Lozove and Bilohirka.
The governor of the neighboring Mykolaiv region, Vitaliy Kim, said on Telegram on Wednesday that Russian troops were retreating and blowing up bridges to prevent a possible Ukrainian advance. They are afraid of a counter-attack by the Ukrainian army
he said, without specifying where this withdrawal was taking place, which was not confirmed by the Russian Defense.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated in his last speech that there had been some success in the Kherson region
for Ukraine, but without giving further details.
With information from France Media Agency, Reuters, Associated Press, and New York Times
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca