War in Ukraine, Day 93 | Pro-Russian forces claim capture of Lyman in Donbass

(Lyssychansk) Pro-Russian separatists said on Friday they had taken the key locality of Lyman, an important crossroads in Donbass, witness to the intensity of the fighting in eastern Ukraine where Moscow seems to be progressing faster after weeks of advance laborious.

On its Telegram account, the territorial defense staff of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian separatist “republic” of Donetsk said it had “taken complete control” of Lyman, aided by units from the other separatist region of Luhansk and the “support” of the Russian armed forces.

Neither the Russian army nor the Ukrainian army immediately commented on this information, which AFP could not verify from an independent source.

After their unsuccessful offensive on Kyiv and Kharkiv at the start of the war, launched by Russia on February 24, Moscow’s forces are concentrating their forces in the east, displaying their intention to take full control of the Donbass mining basin, which pro-Russian separatists already partially control since 2014.

The capture of Lyman would open the road to them towards the regional centers of Sloviansk, then Kramatorsk, while allowing them to approach a total encirclement of the agglomeration formed by the cities of Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk, two other important Ukrainian cities located further east.

On Thursday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of carrying out “genocide” in the entire region of Donbass.

“The current occupiers’ offensive in Donbass could empty the region of its inhabitants,” Zelensky said in his daily video message, accusing the Russians of seeking to “burn down” Severodonetsk and other towns in this old mining region.

Russian forces are carrying out “deportations” and “mass killings of civilians”, continued Mr. Zelensky, denouncing “an obvious policy of genocide carried out by Russia”.

For its part, Moscow justified its invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24 by a “genocide” that the Ukrainians would carry out against the Russian-speaking population of Donbass.

In April, the Ukrainian Parliament had already adopted a resolution describing the actions of the Russian army as “genocide”, and had urged all foreign countries and international organizations to do the same. US President Joe Biden has himself used this expression, while his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron refuses to do so.

Encirclement attempt

The Russian army is also pounding Severodonetsk, whose regional governor has warned that it could meet the same fate as Mariupol, a large port in the south-east devastated after weeks of siege.

At least five civilians were killed in 24 hours in the region: four in Severodonetsk and another in Komychouvakha, 50 kilometers away, Governor Serguiï Gaïdaï announced on Friday.

“The people of Severodonetsk have forgotten what a ceasefire for at least half an hour is,” he wrote on Telegram. “The Russians are constantly shelling the residential areas.”

“We believe Russian forces have been able to capture most of northeast Severodonetsk, although fighting is still ongoing,” a senior Pentagon official told Washington.

According to the head of the civil and military administration of Severodonetsk, Alexander Stryuk, between 12,000 and 13,000 people remained in this city, which had 100,000 inhabitants before the war.

Some “60% of Severodonetsk’s housing stock has been destroyed and 85-90% of the city’s buildings have been damaged and will require major restoration”, he said, quoted by Ukrainian media.

Kharkiv bombed again

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, 50 km from the Russian border in the east of the country, the air alert sirens sounded again at dawn on Friday. The day before, shelling killed nine people and injured 19, all civilians, according to Mr Zelensky, as the city had been trying since mid-May to return to normal.

Missiles hit the residential area of ​​the Pavlové Polé district, in the northern center of the city, according to an AFP journalist on the spot. He saw a young man killed and four injured, all taken to hospital, including an older man with a severed leg and arm.

The Ukrainians have dug new trenches around the city and set up concrete blocks, sandbags and road checkpoints, in preparation for a possible new assault, while Russian forces hold positions east of Kharkiv.

In this context, the Ukrainian authorities again demanded more weapons from the West on Friday: “Some partners avoid giving the necessary weapons for fear of escalation. Climbing, really? Russia already uses the heaviest non-nuclear weapons and burns people alive. Maybe it’s time […] to give us MLRS (multiple rocket launchers)? tweeted Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency.

Moscow, which analysts say wants to consolidate its territorial gains in eastern and southern Ukraine before any negotiated solution, on Thursday rejected an Italian peace plan.

This provided, under the guarantee of the UN, a ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops, the entry of Ukraine into the European Union, but not into NATO, and a status of autonomy for Donbass and Crimea which would remain under Ukrainian sovereignty.

railway bridge

While Ukraine, a major agricultural power, can no longer export its cereals due to the blocking of its ports, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was ready to help “overcome the food crisis” that this entails – provided that this is preceded by a lifting of sanctions against Moscow, which earned him accusations of blackmail.

Russia is targeting 50 million tonnes of grain exports in the coming season, up sharply from the current fiscal year.

To help Kyiv export its grain and try to circumvent the blockade, Germany has set up a “railway bridge” with Ukraine, said the next head of American forces in Europe, General Chris Cavoli.

In southern Ukraine, Russia is busy consolidating its hold on the territories conquered for three months. In particular, it announced that it would allow residents of the Zaporijjia and Kherson regions to apply for a Russian passport via “a simplified procedure”.

Ukraine denounced a “forced” granting of Russian nationality demonstrating Moscow’s desire to carry out a pure and simple annexation of these territories.