Russia is concentrating its forces in the battle for Sievierodonetsk, a key city in eastern Ukraine which had some 120,000 inhabitants before the war, and where the situation remains very confused. Moscow affirmed on Saturday June 4 that Ukrainian military units were withdrawing from it, while the staff of the Ukrainian army and the mayor of this city, Olexandre Striouk, reported on the contrary in the evening of clashes with a view to completely to resume.
Russian troops “succeeded in entering the city and seizing a good part of it, dividing it in two. But our soldiers managed to redeploy, to build a line of defence. Currently, we are doing everything necessary to restore full control. of Sievierodonetsk, said Mr. Striouk, referring to “street fighting”. “Units of the Ukrainian army, having suffered critical losses during the fighting for Sievierodonetsk (up to 90% in several units), fall back towards Lysytchansk”a neighboring locality, for its part proclaimed the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Earlier in the day, Luhansk region governor Serhi Haidai admitted that “the situation in the whole region” was “extremely difficult” : “The fighting is currently concentrated in Sievierodonetsk because (…) the Russian army has put all its weight and its reserves” in this battle. “Initial information indicates that they [les Russes] managed to take over most of the city. But our forces are pushing them back now. »
Attacks in the south
Parallel attacks occurred on Saturday on other fronts. In the southern region of Kherson, “residents left the village of Trudolyubivka” and Russian forces “continue to bombard the occupied territories and the positions of the Ukrainian army”, announced the Ukrainian presidency, warning of a humanitarian crisis in areas in Russian hands. In addition, “warehouses were damaged” and there were two ” victims “according to kyiv, when a Russian cruise missile hit an agricultural enterprise in the large port of Odessa, also in the South.
The Russian army, for its part, claimed to have destroyed “a deployment point for foreign mercenaries” near Dachnoe, in the Odessa region, and two Ukrainian command centers and six ammunition depots in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. She also said that she hit with missiles a training center for Ukrainian gunners near Stetskovka, in the northern region of Sumy, where “foreign instructors trained Ukrainian soldiers in the use of the M777 howitzer”.
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russians have tripled the portion of Ukrainian territory they control: with the Crimean peninsula and the occupied regions of Donbass and southern Ukraine, Russia now has the control over nearly 125,000 km2or 20% of the area of this country, according to the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Do not humiliate Russia” or “put it in its place”
Four foreign volunteer soldiers, including a Frenchman, were killed fighting Russian troops in Ukraine, the International Defense Legion of Ukraine, the official body for foreign volunteer fighters, also announced on Saturday. The Legion cited the names of a Dutchman, an Australian, a German and a Frenchman without specifying the date or the circumstances of their death.
Emmanuel Macron repeated on Saturday that it was not necessary “not humiliate Russia (…) so that the day the fighting stops, we can build a way out through diplomatic channels”. A statement that irritated the Ukrainian authorities. The head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba judged, in return, that this position could only“humiliating France”. “We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place. It will bring peace and save lives”he replied to the French president, one of the few international leaders who tries to maintain a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At the same time, the Chief of Staff of the American Forces, General Mark Milley, showed the determination of the United States to support Sweden and Finland before their accession to NATO, on board theUSS Kearsargethe largest US warship ever to dock in Stockholm harbour. “It is important for us, the United States, as well as for the other NATO countries, to show our solidarity with Finland and Sweden with this exercise”noted the officer, speaking of the Alliance’s annual naval maneuvers in the Baltic Sea “Baltops 22”.