প্রকাশ: 28/05/2022
Ukrainian forces may
have to retreat from their last pocket in the Luhansk region to avoid being
captured, a Ukrainian official said, as Russian troops press an advance in the
east that has shifted the momentum of the three-month-old war.
A withdrawal could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin
closer to his goal of capturing eastern Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions
in full. His troops have gained ground in the two areas collectively known as
the Donbas while blasting some towns to wastelands.
Luhansk's governor, Serhiy Gaidai, said Russian troops had
entered Sievierodonetsk, the largest Donbas city still held by Ukraine, after
trying to trap Ukrainian forces there for days. Gaidai said 90% of buildings in
the town were damaged.
"The Russians will not be able to capture Luhansk
region in the coming days as analysts have predicted," Gaidai said on
Telegram, referring to Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk across the
Siverskiy Donets River.
"We will have enough strength and resources to defend
ourselves. However, it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will
have to retreat."
Russia's separatist proxies said they now controlled Lyman,
a railway hub west of Sievierodonetsk. Ukraine said Russia had captured most of
Lyman but that its forces were blocking an advance to Sloviansk, to the
southwest.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was protecting
its land "as much as our current defence resources allow". Ukraine's
military said it had repelled eight attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk on Friday,
destroying tanks and armoured vehicles.
"If the occupiers think that Lyman and Sievierodonetsk
will be theirs, they are wrong. Donbas will be Ukrainian," Zelenskiy said
in an address.
'AT GREAT COST'
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Bloomberg UK that
Putin "at great cost to himself and to the Russian military, is continuing
to chew through ground in Donbas".
Russian troops advanced after piercing Ukrainian lines last
week in the city of Popasna, south of Sievierodonetsk. Russian ground forces
have captured several villages northwest of Popasna, Britain's defence ministry
said.
Reached by Reuters journalists in Russian-held territory on
Thursday, Popasna was in ruins. The bloated body of a dead man in combat
uniform could be seen lying in a courtyard.
Resident Natalia Kovalenko had left the cellar where she was
sheltering in the wreckage of her flat, its windows and balcony blasted away.
She said a shell hit the courtyard, killing two people and wounding eight.
"We are tired of being so scared," she said.
Russia's eastern gains follow the withdrawal of its forces
from approaches to the capital, Kyiv, and a Ukrainian counter-offensive that
pushed its forces back from Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv. Ukrainian forces
have been unable to attack Russian supply lines to the Donbas.
Russian forces shelled parts of Kharkiv on Thursday for the
first time in days. Authorities said nine people were killed. The Kremlin
denies targeting civilians in what it calls its "special military
operation" in Ukraine.
In the south, where Moscow has seized a swath of territory
since the Feb. 24 invasion, including the port of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials
say Russia aims to impose permanent rule.
STRUGGLING TO LEAVE
In the Kherson region, Russian forces were fortifying
defences and shelling Ukraine-controlled areas, the region's Ukrainian
governor, Hennadiy Laguta, told media.
He said the humanitarian situation was critical in some
areas and people were finding it very difficult to leave.
On the diplomatic front, European Union officials said a
deal might be reached by Sunday to ban deliveries of Russian oil by sea,
accounting for about 75% of the bloc's supply, but not by pipeline, a
compromise to win over Hungary and clear the way for new sanctions.
Zelenskiy has accused the EU of dithering over a ban on
Russian energy, saying the bloc was funding Russia's war and delay "merely
means more Ukrainians being killed".
In a telephone call with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer,
Putin stuck to his line that a global food crisis caused by the conflict can be
resolved only if the West lifts sanctions.
Nehammer, who visited Russia in April, said Putin expressed
readiness to discuss a prisoner swap with Ukraine but he said: "If he is
really ready to negotiate is a complex question."
Both Russia and Ukraine are major grain exporters, and
Russia's blockade of ports has halted shipments, driving up global prices.
Russia accuses Ukraine of mining the ports.
Russia justified its assault in part on ensuring Ukraine
does not join the US-led NATO military alliance. But the war has pushed Sweden
and Finland, who were both neutral throughout the Cold War, to apply to join
NATO in one of the most significant changes in European security in decades.
The Nordic states' bids have been tripped up over opposition
by NATO member Turkey, which contends they harbour people linked to a militant
group it deems a terrorist organisation.
Swedish and Finnish diplomats made little headway during
talks in Turkey this week, two sources said. "It is not an easy process".
- Reuters
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