Ukraine on Friday signaled the withdrawal of its troops from the city of Sievierodonetsk, which has seen weeks of intense bombing and street fighting, in a move that will be a major setback in its struggle to defeat Russian forces.
The provincial governor, Serhiy Gaidai, said the troops in the city had been ordered to move to new positions, but did not specify whether they did so or exactly where they were headed.
“There is no point in staying in a broken position for months to stay there,” Gaidai told Ukrainian television.
The troops “will have to withdraw,” he said.
Gaidai did so, four months after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops across the border, igniting a conflict that has killed thousands of fighters and civilians, displaced several million people and destroyed Ukrainian cities. Russian artillery and air strikes.
The war also led to a global energy and food crisis.
Some of the heaviest engagements of the war took place in Sievierodonetsk, where street-to-front fighting lasted for a month and Russia painstakingly gained more ground.
The war is critical as Russia establishes control over the last remaining part of Luhansk province, which together with Donetsk forms the Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial centre.
The fall of Sievierodonetsk would leave only its sister city, Lysychansk, on the west bank of the Siverskyi Donets River, in Ukrainian hands.
“Our forces had to retreat and make a tactical retreat because basically there was nothing left to defend there. There were no cities left, and secondly, we couldn’t let them be encircled,” said Kyiv military analyst Oleksander Musyenko. .
Russia’s tactics since the failure of its troops to capture the capital, Kiev, at the beginning of the war, included fierce shelling of cities and towns, followed by attacks by ground troops.
Analysts say Russian forces have suffered heavy losses and are facing leadership and supply problems. But they are trying to break the Ukrainian resistance and are making significant gains in the east and south.
The Ukrainian General Staff said on Friday that the Russians were firing from tanks, mortars, artillery and jets, as well as carrying out airstrikes on Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk and nearby towns. Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the reports.
source: Noticias
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