It is a city at the heart of the battle for control of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. Fierce fighting raged on Saturday July 2 in the large city of Lyssytchansk. As the clashes continue on Sunday, franceinfo explains why control of this agglomeration, which had some 95,000 inhabitants before the start of the war, is crucial, both for the Ukrainian army and for the Russian troops and their separatist allies. prorussians.
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Because it allows Moscow to wage a war of attrition
Ukrainian forces received Friday, June 24 the order to leave Sievierodonetsk, twin town of Lyssytchansk, located on the other side of the Donets River. The city had been bombarded relentlessly by Russian forces for weeks. The exhausted Ukrainian army decided to withdraw. This withdrawal symbolized one of the hardest blows for kyiv in this war for Donbass.
The Russians seem determined to apply the same strategy of attrition to Lysytchansk. However, on the front, the fatigue of some Ukrainian soldiers in the face of this conflict, which is taking “much of the time” is felt. Defeats wear down the morale of young volunteers that franceinfo has met. On Thursday, the governor of the Luhansk region also warned of the fate of civilians: the bombings “very powerful” prevent evacuations, he said.
Because it is one of the last pockets of resistance in the Donbass
Lyssychansk is the last major city not to have fallen to Moscow in the Luhansk region, one of the two Donbass provinces. This coal basin, an economic and cultural center bordering Russia, has been plagued by fighting since the start of the war on February 24.
After the loss of Sievierodonetsk, kyiv is doing everything to keep Lyssytchansk, despite the pressure from Russian and pro-Russian forces. Contradictory statements circulate. Saturday, thehe Moscow-backed separatists quoted by the Tass news agency claimed the city was “totally surrounded”. A statement denied by the Ukrainian camp. “The fighting is raging (…) Fortunately, the city is not surrounded and is under the control of the Ukrainian army”assured, a little later on television, the spokesman of the National Guard of Ukraine.
On Sunday, a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry assured that Russian forces and their separatist allies had taken “complete control of Lysychansk and other nearby towns”. A few minutes earlier, the spokesman for the same ministry announced that the fighting was continuing and that the Ukrainian forces were “totally” surrounded. The Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region explained to him on Telegram that “the Russians strengthen their positions in the Lysytchansk region”. Claims that cannot be independently verified.
Because it offers an opening to the west for the Russian army
Above all, the capture of Lyssytchansk would allow the Russian army a crucial advance on the ground. On the one hand, towards Sloviansk, about sixty kilometers to the west, already under fire from Russian artillery. On the other hand, towards Kramatorsk, another large city of Donbass, whose inhabitants live to the sound of bombardments and warning sirens.
On Saturday morning, the Ukrainian General Staff claimed to have repelled a Russian offensive a few kilometers west of Lyssytchansk. The day before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that the situation remained “extremely difficult” on the spot.