An the 110th day of the Russian attack on Ukraine, its president promised his citizens that their country would be liberated. The entire territory will be recaptured and the occupiers will be expelled from all regions, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message on Monday evening. He named Donbass, Kherson, Melitopol and Mariupol, even Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. Every occupier there should know: “This is not the country where you will have peace!”
What the President failed to mention: His forces are suffering defeat. They are far from liberating the areas they have lost since the beginning of the war, not to mention Crimea. Rather, Russian troops are gradually conquering the city of Severodonetsk in the Luhansk district. The fiercest fighting has been raging there for weeks, and the Russians have concentrated their troops there. They are now supposed to control the city center, and there is talk of seventy percent of the entire city. They destroyed the last bridge from there to Lysychansk, making it difficult for Ukrainian soldiers to retreat. They’re not locked in yet, but according to Western observers, it’s only a matter of time before the industrial city falls. Moscow would then have achieved another war goal: control of the entire Luhansk region.