Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that his military would not stop trying to &quo...
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| Image: Reuters |
Russia took over the city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine on Sunday. This ended one of the biggest battles in Europe in a long time and finished Russia's takeover of Luhansk province, which was one of two areas it wanted Ukraine to give to separatists in the Donbas region.
As the war moved into its next phase, Ukrainian forces set up new defensive lines in the east of the country.
Zelenskiy said in a nightly video message that there had been no big changes on the battlefield in the past 24 hours. "Every day, the Armed Forces of Ukraine fight back, push back, and stop the occupiers from being able to attack. We have to get rid of them. It's not easy to do. It takes a long time and a lot of work. But we don't have any other choice."
Earlier in the day, Putin praised Russian troops for their "victories in the direction of Luhansk." In a sh
ort televised meeting with his defence minister, the Russian president said that the people fighting in that area should "absolutely rest and recover their military readiness" while other units keep fighting.
ort televised meeting with his defence minister, the Russian president said that the people fighting in that area should "absolutely rest and recover their military readiness" while other units keep fighting.
Since its forces were defeated in March when they tried to take Kyiv, the battle for Luhansk is the closest Moscow has come to one of its stated goals. It is Russia's biggest win since late May, when it took over the southern port of Mariupol.
Along a loop of the Siverskyi Donets river that goes through Luhansk and Donetsk, both sides say they killed and hurt thousands of people and caused far more damage to the other side.
Lysychansk, its neighbour Sievierodonetsk, and other nearby towns were destroyed by constant Russian bombing. Many of these towns had heavy industry plants that defenders used as bunkers. Russia had tried and failed many times to surround the Ukrainians, so they decided to use artillery to get rid of them.
Experts in the military said that the battle could be a turning point in the war and have a big effect on both sides' ability to keep fighting, even though the ruined cities themselves don't have much strategic value.
Neil Melvin of the RUSI think tank in London said, "I think it's a tactical victory for Russia, but at an enormous cost." He said that the battle was like World War I, when huge battles were fought over small pieces of land.
"This has been going very slowly for 60 days," he said. "I think the Russians might claim some sort of victory, but the most important battle of the war is still to come."
Moscow will hope that Ukraine's retreat will give Russian forces momentum to move west into the neighbouring Donetsk province, where Ukraine still controls the cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and Bakhmut.
"IT STINGS A LOT"
Ukraine could have left Luhansk weeks ago, but they chose to keep fighting until the invaders were too tired to keep fighting. It hopes that the fierce battle will wear out the Russians so much that they won't be able to hold gains in other places.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Ukraine's Luhansk province, told Reuters: "It's true that Russia now controls my whole province." "We need to win the war, not just the battle for Lysychansk. Even though it hurts a lot, we're not losing the war."
Gaidai said that Ukrainian troops who had left Lysychansk were now holding the line between Bakhmut and Sloviansk and getting ready to stop a new Russian advance.
The mayor of Sloviansk said that at least six people, including a 10-year-old girl, were killed by heavy shelling on Sunday.
Russia's Tass news agency said that military officials in the Donetsk Peoples' Republic said that shelling by Ukrainian forces killed three civilians and hurt 27 more.
Reuters could not check the reports from the battlefield.
Rob Lee of the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute said that the new Ukrainian defensive line should be easier to protect than the pocket in Luhansk province that was given up.
He said, "It's something Putin can show as proof of his success." "But overall, this doesn't mean that Ukraine will have to give up or give in any time soon."
Russia says its "special military operation" in Ukraine is meant to demilitarise its southern neighbour and protect Russian speakers from people it calls "nationalists."
Ukraine and its Western allies say that this is just a stupid excuse for a clear attempt to take over territory.
Zelenskiy said that Ukraine's broken infrastructure would need "colossal" amounts of money to fix.
Denys Shmygal, the prime minister of Ukraine, said at a conference in the Swiss city of Lugano that the cost could reach $750 billion and that rich Russians should help pay the bill.
COUNTER-ATTACK
Melvin, an expert from RUSI, said that the most important battle for Ukraine would probably not be in the east, where Russia is launching its main attack, but in the south, where Ukraine has started a counter-offensive to take back territory.
"Around Kherson, this is where we can see that the Ukrainians are making progress. There are already counterattacks going on, and I think the momentum will probably shift to Ukraine as it tries to launch a large-scale counteroffensive to push the Russians back "he said.
Part of Ukraine's hope for a long-lasting counterattack depends on getting more weapons from the West, like rockets that can counter Russia's huge advantage in firepower by hitting far behind the front line.
Last week, Ukraine won a major victory of its own when it drove Russian forces off Snake Island. Snake Island is a barren but strategic outcrop in the Black Sea that Russia took control of on the first day of the war but couldn't defend against Ukrainian attacks anymore.
Magdalena Andersson, the Swedish prime minister, said that the best way to end the war was to help Ukraine more and put more pressure on Russia. At a news conference with Zelenskiy on Monday, Andersson said, "We are open to more sanctions against Russia." He also said that Moscow shouldn't be able to benefit from its invasion.
Both Sweden and its neighbour Finland recently put in an application to join NATO. Andersson said that her country might not be a full member of the alliance for another year.
