Russian soldiers camped for three months in the south and east of Ukraine are beginning to impose their law. The ruble circulates there more and more, the new masters distribute Russian passports with full hands and the children of the region start courses of “de-Ukrainization”. Facing the occupants, the army draped in yellow and blue is struggling to fight back.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recognized on Wednesday, for a rare time, the domination of the Russians in Donbass. In this territory at the heart of the conflict, “the enemy is clearly superior, in equipment, in number of soldiers”, he conceded.
The Ukrainian governor of the region, Serguiï Gaïdaï, confirmed these statements on Telegram. “The mission is extremely difficult in the Luhansk region, after three months of constant attacks and shelling. And now all the forces of the Russians are concentrated here, and we have to contain this horde. According to him, many Ukrainian military infrastructures have been destroyed and “slowly our guys are retreating to more fortified positions”.
During this 92and day of war, the Russian army progressed slowly but surely in the area, encircling in particular Severodonetsk, a city of 100,000 inhabitants before the war. A siege scenario, like that of Mariupol, looms there. Sergei Gaïdaï published a summary of the situation on Telegram: “Extremely heavy fighting is raging on the outskirts of Severodonetsk, [les Russes] are completely destroying the city. »
On Thursday, the Russian military offensive had reached “maximum intensity”, noted in a press briefing the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, Ganna Malyar, before adding that “a long and extremely difficult stage awaits us”.
Russian passport and currency
On the southern front, Moscow is closing its grip on the conquered territories. Residents of the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions can thus apply for a Russian passport through “a simplified procedure”, Moscow announced this week. Ukraine immediately denounced a “forced” granting of Russian nationality which demonstrates the Kremlin’s desire to annex these territories.
On Thursday, a Ukrainian official from the city of Mariupol reported that the children who remained there would integrate the Russian school system. “Throughout the summer, the children will have lessons in Russian language and literature, Russian history and mathematics lessons in Russian. The main goal is de-Ukrainization and preparation for the new school year according to the Russian curriculum,” said Petro Andriouchchenko, advisor to the mayor. He added, however, that the Russian “occupiers” had so far failed to find enough teachers – “only 53 for nine schools”. He did not specify how many students were affected.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations meanwhile released this week images of trucks flanked by giant screens circulating in this port city. Called “mobile information complexes”, these televisions on wheels provide access to state television propaganda to a population deprived of water and electricity.
Also in the south of the country, Russian currency began to circulate among the subjugated populations. Pro-Russian authorities in Ukraine’s Kherson region this week made the ruble an official currency, parallel to the Ukrainian hryvnia. The administration added that the first branch of a Russian bank would open “very soon” in Kherson; a full switch to Russian currency has been mooted.
The worried West
Faced with these Russian advances, Europe is displaying its determination to continue the fight.
The head of British diplomacy on Thursday renewed her desire to see the West continue to support kyiv without weakening. “No compromise or appeasement should be offered to Putin,” Liz Truss said from Sarajevo, where she met her Bosnian counterpart. “We have to make sure Putin loses in Ukraine and Ukraine wins […], that Russian aggression can never again threaten peace in Europe. We must dive deep into our resources relentlessly, continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win and regain its territorial integrity and sovereignty. »
The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, displayed the same determination on the same day. “Putin must not win his war. And I am convinced of it: he will not win it, ”he proclaimed during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin, meanwhile, painted a bleak picture of what happened next during her Thursday visit to Kyiv. “What Russia has done is a turning point for the whole European family and for the whole world. We see that the old system is destroyed and there is no going back to the old relationships,” said Mr.me Marin during a press briefing held with the Ukrainian Prime Minister.
” Trust [envers la Russie] is lost for generations. »
With Agence France-Presse