Ukraine said on Friday that its forces may have to withdraw from their last pocket of resistance in Luhansk to avoid being seized by Russian troops continuing an eastward assault that has reversed the tide of the three-month-old conflict.
A retreat might put Russian President Vladimir Putin closer to completing his takeover of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions. His forces have gained territory in the two areas known as the Donbass, while razing some towns to the ground.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, said Russian troops had penetrated Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine’s largest Donbas city, after trying to trap Ukrainian forces there for days. According to Gaidai, 90 percent of the town’s structures were damaged.
‘As analysts expected, the Russians will not be able to seize the Luhansk region in the coming days,’ Gaidai stated on Telegram, referring to Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk across the Siverskiy Donets River.
‘We shall be able to defend ourselves with sufficient strength and resources. However, it is probable that we will have to retreat in order to avoid being surrounded.’
Moscow’s proxies claimed control of Lyman, a railway hub west of Sievierodonetsk. Ukraine said Russia had taken most of Lyman but was preventing an advance on Sloviansk, a city about a half-hour drive southwest.
Ukraine, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is protecting its territory “to the extent that our existing defence resources allow.” On Friday, Ukraine’s military said it withstood eight attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles.
‘If the occupants believe Lyman and Sievierodonetsk will be theirs, they are mistaken. ‘Donbas will be Ukrainian,’ Zelenskiy declared in an evening speech.
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