Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in the Eastern Ukraine region of Luhansk on Monday the day after Ukrainian troops withdrew from the last resistance breakwater in Ukraine.
Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin at a video conference on Monday that Russian troops, along with neighboring Donetsk Oblast, ruled Luhansk, which constitutes the industrial center of Ukraine's Donbus.
Shoigu told Putin that the "operation" was completed on Sunday after Russian troops conquered the city of Lysychans'k, the last base of Ukrainian troops in Luhansk.
Next, Putin said in Luhansk that the troops that "participated in active hostilities and achieved success and victory" should "rest and improve their fighting ability."
Choosing withdrawal over siege, Ukraine
Putin's declaration confirms that Ukrainian troops withdrew from Lysychansik on Sunday, then Russian troops pushed the attack into eastern Ukraine It states that it was done when trying to get in. Luhansk Governor Selhiy Haidai said on Monday that he had withdrawn from the city to avoid being surrounded by Ukrainian troops.
"There was a risk of siege of Lysychans'k," Haidai told The Associated Press, adding that Ukrainian troops could hold up for a few more weeks, but may have paid too high a price. rice field.
"We were able to make an intensive withdrawal and evacuate all the injured," Haidai said. "We have regained all the equipment, so the withdrawal was well organized from this point on."
The Ukrainian Army Staff Headquarters has decided that Russian troops are now advancing towards the routes of Siversk, Fedrifka and Bakumut in the Donetsk region. He said he was working hard. , About half of it is controlled by Russia. Russian troops have also stepped up the bombardment of the major Ukrainian fortresses of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, deeper in Donetsk.
On Sunday, six people, including a nine-year-old girl, were killed in Russian bombardment in Slovyansk, and another 19 were injured, according to local authorities. Kramatorsk also fired on Sunday.
On Monday, an intelligence briefing from the British Department of Defense supported the Ukrainian army's assessment, saying that the Russian army would "almost certainly" switch to the occupation of Donetsk. According to the briefing, the conflict at Donbus is "frustration and exhaustion" and is unlikely to change in the coming weeks.
Moscow lacks resources for rapid land acquisition
Russian troops have a great advantage in firepower, but military analysts have a big advantage in the number of troops Say there is no advantage. This means that Moscow lacks resources for rapid land acquisition and can only move slowly, relying on heavy artillery and rockets to soften Ukraine's defenses.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it an important goal to occupy the entire Donbus in the war in Ukraine. Separatists backed by Moscow in Donbus have been fighting Ukrainian troops since 2014, when they declared independence from Kyiv after the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine was annexed to Russia. Russia officially approved the self-proclaimed republic a few days before the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
In a nightly video speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky allowed the withdrawal, but Ukrainian troops vowed to fight their way home.
"This is especially true for Lysychans'k, especially if our army orders withdraw people from a particular point in front of the enemy where they have the greatest fire advantage, that's just one. It means one thing: we are back thanks to tactics, thanks to the increased supply of modern weapons, "said Zelensky .
Unable to occupy Kyiv and other parts of northeastern Ukraine in the early days of the war, Russia focused on Donbus, unleashing heavy bombardment and ruining cities in the region from house to house. I have been engaged in the battle of.
Russia's invasion has also devastated the Ukrainian agricultural sector, disrupting the seed and fertilizer supply chains needed by Ukrainian farmers and blocking exports of grain, the country's main source of income. Did.
Grain exports are expected to reach 35% of total in 2021
In an intelligence report on Monday, the UK Ministry of Defense said in a major port in Ukraine. He pointed out the Russian blockade of one Odesa. Grain exports are severely restricted. As a result, Ukraine's agricultural exports are projected to reach 35 percent of the total in 2021 this year.
When Moscow pushed the attack across the east of Ukraine, the western region of Russia was attacked on Sunday with a sporadic apparent Ukrainian strike revival across borders. The governor of the Belgorod region of western Russia said fragments of Ukrainian missiles intercepted killed four people on Sunday. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, two Ukrainian drones were shot down in the Russian city of Kursk.
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