Hajdaj believes that the Russians will not be able to conquer Severodonetsk in the coming days. “We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. But it is possible that in order not to be surrounded, we will have to withdraw, “wrote the governor of the Luhansk region.
According to him, dozens of paramedics remain in Severodonetsk, but Russian shelling is making their job more difficult.
Withdrawing Ukrainian forces from last positions in the Luhansk region would bring the Russian occupiers closer to the goal of dominating the Donbas. Moscow is focusing on the eastern Ukrainian region after Russia failed to conquer or encircle Kyiv and install a puppet government at the head of Ukraine.
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Russian forces said they had gained control of Lyman on Friday. The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed the city’s loss on Friday and said that the Russians were trying to consolidate their position there with the help of artillery. On Saturday, Reuters reported that Kyiv admitted to losing most of Lyman, but Ukrainian defenders are blocking Russia’s advance southwest to Slovyansk.
British intelligence points out that Lyman is a strategically important city because it is a railway junction and opens the way to several bridges over the North Donetsk River. The reporters predict that the Russian operation in Donbas will proceed to the next phase, and in the coming days the invasion forces will focus on crossing the river, which would allow them to move later to the key cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.
We’ll get the Donbas back, Zelenskyj said
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that the Ukrainian army is defending the position as funds currently allow. On Friday, according to Zelenský, defenders repulsed eight attacks in Donbas, destroying enemy tanks and armored vehicles. “If the occupiers think they will get Lyman and Severodonetsk, they are wrong. Donbas will be Ukrainian, “said the president.
He also admitted that the current situation in Donbas is very complicated. “Moscow uses maximum artillery and reserves there,” the leader explained. Hajdaj also said that there were about ten thousand Russian soldiers in the region he administered. “These are soldiers who are in the Luhansk region permanently, who are trying to attack and are trying to make territorial gains, in any direction they can,” he said. The governor’s estimate cannot be verified.
Analysts at the American think tank Institute for the Study of War believe that although Russian forces have launched direct attacks on the built-up part of Severodonetsk, it will be difficult for them to gain positions in the city. Experts point out that the Russian army has not yet succeeded in urban fighting in Ukraine.
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