Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – After weeks of fierce fighting, Ukrainian forces have begun withdrawing from a besieged city in the east of the country to move to stronger positions, a regional official said on Friday. four months after the invasion of Russia.
The planned withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk, the administrative center of the Luhansk region, comes after a relentless Russian bombing that has reduced most of the industrial city to rubble and reduced its population from 100,000 to 10,000 inhabitants. Ukrainian troops fought the Russians in house-to-house battles before retreating to the huge Nitrogen chemical plant on the outskirts of the city, where they remain hidden in their extensive underground structures where they also found refuge for about 500. civilians.
In recent days, Russian forces have made gains around Sievierodonetsk and the neighboring city of Lysychansk, on a steep bank across a river, in an attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces.
Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk have been the focal point of the Russian offensive aimed at capturing the entire Donbas and destroying the Ukrainian army that defends it, the segment most capable and hardened by the battle of the country’s armed forces. The two cities and the surrounding area are the last major pockets of Ukrainian resistance in the Luhansk region, 95% of which are under the control of Russian and local separatist forces. The Russians and separatists also control about half of the Donetsk region, the second province of the Donbas.
Russia used its numerical advantages in troops and weapons to strike Sievierodonetsk in what has become a war of attrition, while Ukraine demanded better and more weapons from its Western allies. Bridges in the city were destroyed, which hampered the ability of the Ukrainian army to resupply, reinforce and evacuate the wounded and others. Much of the city’s electricity, water and communications infrastructure has been destroyed.
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said Ukrainian troops have been ordered to leave Sievierodonetsk to avoid further losses and move to more fortified positions. The head of the regional administration, Roman Vlasenko, said that the withdrawal has already begun and will last several days.
“As of now, the Ukrainian army still remains in Sievierodonetsk,” Vlasenko told CNN. “They are currently withdrawing from the city. It started yesterday. ”
Ukraine’s military spokesman declined to confirm the withdrawal order, saying the government’s policy precludes comments on movements of Ukrainian troops.
“Unfortunately, we will have to withdraw our troops from Sievierodonetsk,” Haidai told The Associated Press. “It makes no sense to stay in the destroyed positions and the number of deaths in action has been growing.”
A senior U.S. defense official, speaking in Washington on condition of anonymity, on Friday called the Ukrainians’ move a “tactical retrograde” to consolidate forces in positions where they can better defend themselves. This will add to Ukraine’s effort to keep Russian forces entrenched for longer in a small area, the official said.
Haidai noted that while the retreat is underway, some Ukrainian troops remain in Sievierodonetsk, facing Russian bombing that has destroyed 80% of the buildings.
“As of today, resistance in Sievierodonetsk continues,” Haidai told the AP. “The Russians are relentlessly bombing Ukraine’s positions, burning everything.”
Haidai said the Russians are also advancing on Lysychansk, from Zolote and Toshkivka, and added that Russian reconnaissance units raided the city limits, but their defenders drove them out. The governor added that a bridge leading to Lysychansk was badly damaged in a Russian air strike and cannot be used for trucks. Ukrainian military analyst Oleg Zhdanov told the AP that some of the troops moving away from Sievierodonetsk are heading for the fight in Lysychansk.
In other battlefield reports, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that four Ukrainian battalions and a unit of “foreign mercenaries” with a total of about 2,000 soldiers have been “totally blocked” near Hirske and Zolote, in the south of Lysychansk. The claim could not be independently verified.
After a failed attempt to capture Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, in the initial stage of the invasion that began on February 24, Russian forces have shifted their attention to the Donbas, where Ukrainian forces have fought separatists backed by Moscow since 2014.
After repeated requests to its Western allies for heavier weapons to counter Russia’s lead in firepower, four medium-range American rocket launchers have arrived, with four more on the way. A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that more Ukrainian forces are training outside Ukraine to use high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS, and are expected to return to their country. with guns in mid-July.
Rockets can travel about 45 miles (70 kilometers). 18 U.S. coastal and river patrols will also be dispatched. The official said there is no evidence that Russia has been successful in intercepting any of what has been a steady stream of military aid to Ukraine from the United States and other nations. Russia has repeatedly threatened to attack, or in fact claimed to have struck, these shipments.
IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
The day after Ukraine was approved as a candidate to join the European Union, Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians not to focus on all that remains to be done before the country is accepted into the EU, but to quietly celebrate the moment and be proud of how far Ukraine has come. it has already come away from its Soviet past.
“Don’t be happy that this is a slap in the face for Moscow, but be proud that this is a round of applause for Ukraine,” he said in his nightly video. “Let it inspire you. We deserve it. Please smile and let God bless us all with a quiet night. Then tomorrow, back in battle. With new strength, with new wings.”
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In Tbilisi, Georgia, another former Soviet republic that has applied to join the EU, thousands of people gathered on Friday to demand the resignation of the prime minister because his government failed to implement the necessary reforms so that Georgia joins Ukraine to be accepted as a candidate to join the EU. This week’s European Council said Georgia had more work to do before receiving candidate status.
Zelenskyy addressed the demonstration by video, expressing his support for Georgia and thanking the Georgians who have come to Ukraine to join the fight against Russia. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and now effectively controls two separate territories.
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Zelenskyy urged music fans at the Glastonbury Festival to “spread the truth about the Russian war.” Speaking to the crowd of British music video extravaganza on Friday before a set of The Libertines, Zelenskyy said: “In Ukraine we would also like to live life as before and enjoy freedom and this wonderful summer, but we can’t do that, because the most terrible thing has happened: Russia has stolen our peace. “
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A pro-Moscow administration official in the southern city of Kherson, who was captured by Russian troops early in the invasion, was killed in an explosion on Friday. The pro-Russian regional administration in Kherson said Dmitry Savlyuchenko died when his vehicle exploded in what he described as a “terrorist attack.” There were no immediate claims of liability.
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Yuras Karmanau reported from Lviv.
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