by Natalia Zinets and Conor Humphries
KYIV/POPASNA, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces may have to withdraw from their last stronghold in the Luhansk region to avoid capture, a Ukrainian official said, as Russian troops advance in the east.
A withdrawal could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin closer to his goal of full control of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine. His troops have gained ground in these two Donbass provinces, reducing some towns to wasteland.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhi Gaïdaï, announced that Russian troops had entered Sievierodonetsk, the largest city in Donbass still held by Ukraine, after trying to surround Ukrainian forces there for several days. Serhi Gaïdaï declared that 90% of the buildings of the city were damaged.
“The Russians will not be able to capture the Luhansk region in the next few days,” Serhi Gaidai said on Telegram, speaking of the cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, located on the opposite bank of the river.
“We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However, it is possible that, in order not to be surrounded, we will have to retreat.”
Pro-Russian separatists have said they have full control of the Lyman region, which Russia has attacked from the north in a new offensive.
Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that Moscow has taken over most of the city. But Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said its troops were still preventing the Russians from launching an offensive towards Sloviansk, a major city half an hour’s drive southwest.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said Ukraine was protecting its territory “as much as (its) current defense resources allow”. Ukraine’s military said it repelled eight attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk on Friday, destroying tanks and armored vehicles.
“If the occupiers think that Lyman and Sievierodonetsk will be theirs, they are mistaken. Donbass will be Ukrainian,” Volodimir Zelensky said in a speech delivered overnight.
“AT THE PRICE OF GREAT SACRIFICES”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Bloomberg that Russian President Vladimir Putin “continues, at great sacrifice for himself and for the Russian military, to gain ground in Donbass.”
Russian forces broke through Ukrainian lines south of Sievierodonetsk in the town of Popasna last week. According to the British Ministry of Defence, they seized several villages located northwest of Popasna.
Popasna, where Reuters journalists were able to go Thursday in an area controlled by the Russians, is nothing more than rubble and burnt buildings. Russian tanks and military vehicles patrolled the streets, accompanied by low-flying attack helicopters, as the bloated body of a fighter lay nearby in a courtyard.
Deserting the cellar where she had taken shelter, Natalia Kovalenko returned to live in her devastated apartment, where her balcony collapsed and her windows were blown out by the explosions.
Without being able to take her eyes off the courtyard, she recounts that two people were killed there and eight injured by a shell while they were out cooking.
“We are tired of being so scared,” she said.
Russia’s advances in the east of the country follow the withdrawal of its forces from approaches to the capital, Kyiv, and a Ukrainian counter-offensive that pushed its forces back from Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv. Ukrainian forces were unable to attack Russian supply lines to Donbass.
On Thursday, Russian forces shelled parts of Kharkiv for the first time in several days. Local authorities said nine people were killed.
The Kremlin denies targeting civilians.
In the south, where Moscow has seized a large part of the territory since the invasion of February 24, Ukrainian officials believe that Vladimir Putin is seeking to install a pro-Russian regime there over the long term.
DIFFICULTIES
In the Kherson region, Russian forces fortified their defenses and shelled Ukrainian-controlled areas, Ukrainian governor of the region, Hennadi Lagouta, told media.
He said the humanitarian situation was critical in some areas and people were finding it very difficult to leave.
On the diplomatic front, European Union (EU) officials have said a deal to block imports of Russian oil, from which pipeline deliveries would be exempt, could be reached by Sunday.
Volodimir Zelensky criticized the EU for its hesitation over the embargo on Russian energy, saying that the Twenty-Seven were in fact financing Moscow’s war effort and that any delay “would only increase the number of Ukrainians killed”.
In a telephone interview with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Vladimir Putin maintained his position that the global food crisis caused by the conflict can only be solved if the West lifts its sanctions.
Karl Nehammer, who visited Russia in April, said Vladimir Putin said he was ready to discuss a prisoner swap with Ukraine. The Austrian Chancellor however added: “Whether he is really ready to negotiate is a complex question.”
Both Russia and Ukraine are major grain exporters, and Russia’s blockade of ports has halted shipments, causing prices to rise globally. Russia accuses Ukraine of mining ports.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 prompted Sweden and Finland, which were both cold war neutrals, to apply to join NATO, one of the most significant changes in European security for decades.
The candidacies of the Nordic countries have however come up against the opposition of Turkey, a member of the Atlantic Alliance, which accuses them of welcoming on their territory people linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it considers as a terrorist organization, and supporters of Fethullah Gülen, whom it accuses of having organized a coup attempt in 2016.
According to two sources, Swedish and Finnish diplomats made little progress during their talks in Turkey this week. “It’s not an easy process,” a Turkish official told Reuters.
(Reportage Reportages Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, Vitali Hnidyi in Kharkiv and Reuters journalists in Popasna, written by Rami Ayyub and Robert Birsel; French version Camille Raynaud)