The Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, in the Donbass, is a lock. Or at least still was, after four months of war in Ukraine. This city, whose capture by Moscow, would be a crucial step in the plan of Russian conquest of eastern Ukraine. For now, she is still escaping Russian forces. But Ukrainian forces were ordered to withdraw from the city on Friday June 24, 2022, the day after the European Union validated kyiv’s candidacy.
A withdrawal, in fact, however symbolic, made necessary in order to escape encirclement. For several days, the forces of Moscow have made a major breakthrough in this district of Lugansk. A representative of pro-Russian separatists said Ukrainian forces were about to be cut off from their lines after weeks of fighting and shelling.
>> War in Ukraine: in the Donbass, many wounded evacuated by Doctors Without Borders
This conquest of Sievierodonetsk, of which all the essential infrastructures have already been destroyed, is a capital step for the Russian forces which are approaching Lyssychansk, the last major city of this district of Lugansk still escaping from Moscow. The objective for the Russian army is clear: to continue its campaign of bombardment and strikes to prepare the assault against the towns of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, in the district of Donetsk, two strongholds currently controlled by Ukrainian forces.
Even if this Ukrainian withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk was expected, it is the hardest blow suffered by kyiv since the official launch of Moscow’s offensive in the Donbass on April 19. The human price to pay was untenable: some sources mention 2 to 300 Ukrainian soldiers killed daily. The BBC speaks of 500 deaths on certain days. It is therefore in the face of this carnage that Ukraine decided to make a strategic withdrawal and not suffer the same fate as during the battle of Mariupol, when the soldiers of kyiv, besieged, had to surrender.
Moreover, in this area of the east of the country, the Ukrainian forces are very far from their supply lines, unlike the Russians, whose border is close. The Kremlin forces can thus count on a permanent supply, particularly in terms of ammunition. This is what the Ukrainians lack, undermined by the firepower of Russian artillery and aviation.
The kyiv forces are now basing their hopes on the arrival of heavy weapons regularly requested from Western allies, such as the American multiple rocket launchers of the Himars type. But not sure that’s enough to repel the assault from Moscow, which seems set to conquer the district of Lugansk. Before, perhaps that of Donetsk, which will seal, in fact, its offensive in the Donbass.