Alleged ATACMS attack
Russians report rocket fire on Luhansk region
May 21, 2024, 4:15 p.m
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Russia will declare the annexation of the Luhansk region as early as 2022. There is resistance in some villages and the area is hotly contested. According to Moscow, most of the villages are already in Russian hands. Now there is apparently Ukrainian shelling of the region.
According to the occupation administration there, the Ukrainian armed forces attacked the Russian-controlled eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk with American ATACMS missiles. The attack on the city of Sverdlovsk took place on Monday, said Leonid Passechnik, the Russian-appointed governor. Eight people were injured. The information cannot be independently verified. ATACMS missiles are short-range ballistic missiles.
Recently, Russia announced the capture of one of the last villages under Ukrainian control in Luhansk. As a result of fighting, “the units of the Southern Group of Forces completely liberated the town of Bilogorivka in the Luhansk People’s Republic and occupied more advantageous positions,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Bilogorivka, inhabited by around 800 people before the conflict, was a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the Luhansk region. Luhansk is one of four Ukrainian regions declared annexed by Moscow in 2022. Gaining complete control of these areas has long been a priority for the Kremlin.
Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine
According to the British assessment, Russia is continuing its attacks on further areas in eastern Ukraine. Russian troops attacked on a broad front along the E50 motorway approximately northwest of the captured city of Avdiivka, the British Ministry of Defense announced. They had made small tactical gains in terrain over the past three days, albeit with high losses.
The E50 is the most important connection between the Russian-occupied part of the Donetsk region and the city of Pokrovsk, which is held by Ukrainian troops and is around 30 kilometers from the current front. It was probably a Russian target, it was said in London. “Russian attacks in this direction are likely intended to create a lead and divide Ukrainian troops.”
The British ministry also said that Ukrainian troops had also reported heavy fighting north of Bakhmut near Siversk. The Russians attacked Ukrainian positions in the area, for example near Bilohorivka and Rosdolivka, but achieved little success.
Further information about the war in Ukraine can be found here.