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Russia-Ukraine War Updates: After weeks of fierce fighting, Ukrainian forces have begun retreating from a besieged city in the country’s east to take up stronger positions, according to a regional official on the four-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
The planned withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk, the administrative center of the Luhansk region, comes after months of Russian bombardment that has reduced the industrial city’s population from 100,000 to 10,000.
In recent days, Russian forces have made gains around Sievierodonetsk and the neighbouring city of Lysychansk, on a steep bank across a river, in a bid to encircle Ukrainian forces.
Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk have been the focal point of the Russian offensive aimed at capturing all of the Donbas and destroying the Ukrainian military defending it the most capable and battle-hardened segment of the country’s armed forces.
The two cities and surrounding areas are the last major pockets of Ukrainian resistance in the Luhansk region 95 per cent of which is under Russian and local separatist forces’ control.
The Russians and separatists also control about half of the Donetsk region, the second province in the Donbas.
Russia used its numerical advantages in troops and weapons to pummel Sievierodonetsk in what has become a war of attrition, while Ukraine clamoured for better and more weapons from its Western allies.
Bridges to the city were destroyed, slowing the Ukrainian military’s ability to resupply, reinforce and evacuate the wounded and others. Much of the city’s electricity, water and communications infrastructure has been destroyed.
Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Ukrainian troops have been ordered to leave Sievierodonetsk to prevent bigger losses and move to better fortified positions.
Ukraine’s military spokesman declined to confirm the retreat order, saying government policy prevents comments on Ukrainian troop movements.
Regrettably, we will have to pull our troops out of Sievierodonetsk, Haidai told The Associated Press. It makes no sense to stay at the destroyed positions, and the number of killed in action has been growing.
A senior US defence official, speaking in Washington on condition of anonymity, on Friday called the Ukrainians’ move a tactical retrograde to consolidate forces into positions where they can better defend themselves.
This will add to Ukraine’s effort to keep Russian forces pinned down longer in a small area, the official said.
Haidai noted that while the retreat is under way, some Ukrainian troops remain in Sievierodonetsk, facing massive Russian bombardment that has destroyed 80 per cent of buildings.
As of today, the resistance in Sievierodonetsk is continuing, Haidai told the AP. The Russians are relentlessly shelling the Ukrainian positions, burning everything out.
Haidai said the Russians are also advancing toward Lysychansk from Zolote and Toshkivka, adding that Russian reconnaissance units conducted forays on the city’s edges but its defenders drove them out.
The governor added that a bridge leading to Lysychansk was badly damaged in a Russian airstrike and is unusable for trucks.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleg Zhdanov told the AP that some of the troops moving away from Sievierodonetsk are heading to the fight in Lysychansk.
Ukrainian troops fought Russians house-to-house before retreating to the massive Azot chemical factory on the city’s outskirts, where they are still holed up in its sprawling underground structures, where about 500 civilians have also sought refuge.
The UN nuclear watchdog expressed growing concern about the safety of Ukrainian workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, which is owned by Russia. For months, the International Atomic Energy Agency has stated that Zaporizhzhia, where Ukrainian workers operate the plant under the command of Russian troops, poses a safety risk and that it intends to send a mission there.
Meanwhile, European Union leaders granted Ukraine the coveted status of an official candidate to join their 27-nation club on Thursday, a bold geopolitical step hailed as a “historic moment” by Kyiv and the EU itself. Although Ukraine may take more than a decade to join the EU, the decision to officially accept it as a candidate demonstrates the EU’s intention to reach deep into the former Soviet Union.
Source:IE
