LYSICHANSK, Ukraine. Russia is going to surround Severodonetsk. city critical to his goal of capture of the east of Ukraine and with neighboring city directly in Sights of Moscow, question of how realities on earth will shape in next phase of the war subsided more pushing sunday for Western allies of Ukraine.
The Russians are making every effort to reduce off Severodonetsk,” Governor of the region Sergei Gaidai said on Sunday. on Telegram, messaging app. ” next two or three days will be significant.”
Across the river, Ukrainians are trying to hold on fast against Russians in Lisichansk had the advantage of good terrain, but depleted weapons to protect it with.
“If not help with military equipment, of of course they will drive us out”, – said 46-year-old Alexander Voronenko. military police officer stationed in Lisichansk. “Because every day equipment is destroyed. You must replace it with something new”.
Ukrainian authorities pleaded with NATO allies for faster delivery of longer-range weapons, and urgently needed replenishment of Still more basic supplies, including ammunition.
But with pulse of war more resolutely in Russia’s favor, Ukraine’s allies, a threat to their economy and their resolve checked, maybe soon find themselves forced to resist far more fundamental questions than what of provide weapons, including whether to apply pressure on Ukraine is ready for a peace agreement with Russia or risk Russian escalation with more aggressive military support.
“There was always a feeling that when the center of gravity will shift to the south and east, there will be a potential for great Russian conquests based on greater mass and their existing territorial acquisitions,” said Jan Lesser, former American official who leads the Brussels office of German Marshall Fund.
“But it raises more seriousterm questions about nature of conflict, the goals of Ukraine and the goals of the West in attitude towards them,” he said.
While the Ukrainians are waiting, they are suffering terrible losses. in Donbass region where fight for Severodonetsk playing out. According to Ukraine’s own estimate, it is losing between 100 and 200 people. people day, as the bloodshed there intensifies, in part because of Russian material superiority and in part because of Ukraine’s resolve fight on despite an increasingly bleak picture in East.
Those Western supplies that made its up to the front line is not as numerous and not as complex as Ukraine like. And some don’t even get to battle, hit Russian strikes before they can even be deployed.
Late Saturday, Russian missiles hit a military warehouse in Western Ukraine, injuring almost two dozen people and, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, destroying anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems supplied to Ukraine by the United States and the European Union.
Ukrainian government poured troops and resources into its holding effort on to Severodonetsk, a strategically important industrial city and last major urban center in Donbass region of Lugansk, which has not yet fallen. Russian troops have destroyed two bridges leading to the center of Severodonetsk and shelled the remaining one important supply line for Ukrainian forces, the governor of the region said.
Now battle may be going to switch to his sister city Lysichansk.
Sunday from the top of the hill in Lisichansk, it was clear why soon be the focal point of Russian offensive appears easier protect than other parts of Donbass: this on elevation. sprawling plains of in region rich in natural resources, but height is rare.
This leaves the cityUkrainian defenders in advantageous position.
But it is impossible to protect Lisichansk, city with pre-war population of approximately 100,000 men, without the supplies needed to maintain Ukrainian tanks and artillery. with shells and thousands of the troops stationed there fed and equipped.
it challenge Ukrainian military is facing now that the Russian forces are coming to an end of them campaign capture neighboring Severodonetsk. Even with Severodonetsk is captured, Ukrainian troops, most likely, could defend Lisichansk, in part, because the Seversky Donets river separates the two cities – if the Russian forces fail to in disconnection of the city’s supply lines to Russia.
It was clear The Sunday that the Russians tried to achieve just that, steadily advancing from the southeast.
Feathers of smoke and burning fields where artillery strikes lit up the ground on fire enveloped Lisichansk in semicircle on Sunday afternoon. frequent knocks of incoming and outgoing fire echoed through city how civilians dragged empty bottles to fill up from fire department water tank with clean water filters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that “in many ways, destiny of our Donbas is being solved” around Severodonetsk and Lysichansk. But first city is now effectively surrounded, and if Russian forces continue to move towards of asphalt and bumpy field roads serving as the only logistical pipeline in the second Ukrainian officials will have to take a strategic decision: revoke or risk environment of Lisichansk too.
“waited for reinforcements,” Mr. Voronenko said, military police officer like group of 20 or so residents started moving to the recovery vans. “Partly came in in last several days in the form of artillery. And if we get more then we can probably keep them off”.
But almost four months after the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian military ends on ammunition for its Soviet artillery and does not receive enough ammunition, fast enough leaving fate of Lisichansk even more uncertain.
For European countries question of how to defend Ukraine is now both tactical and political in nature – and raises questions closer to home.
Several EU members are concerned that they sent too much of their ammunition to Ukraine and lag behind behind in replenishes their arsenals. with foreign policy as well as defense not integrated, European leaders were forced to seek their own military reserves.
European Union officials say they will try to use a nine billion euro ($9.5 billion) funding bank for joint procurement military equipment, trying to allay fears that supporting Ukraine dangerously weakened militarily defense opportunities elsewhere in Europe.
Block also wrestling with broader and politically fraught issue of how to move forward with Ukraine’s application to join the European Union. What decision can support Mr. Zelensky in home and, perhaps give his more political flexibility to negotiate an end to the fire, but could also lead dig Russia in or worse.
Visiting Kyiv on Saturday President Ursula von der Leyen of The European Commission said its administration would submit an opinion on be it a block should grant Ukraine candidate status until the end of a week. Ultimately, however, decision is deeply political one that EU leaders will be called to account at the June 23 and 24 summit in Brussels.
For most countries Candidate status is required more than a decade of reforms and negotiations to become full member of the EU.
Should Ukraine be given a green light? forward will most likely be difficult, given the country’s plight from the start of war, mismanagement and corruption, which were marked even before invasion.
“Whatever the territorial reality on earth having this deepening perspective of Euro-Atlantic integration for Ukraine is of great importance,” said Mr. Lesser. of German Marshall Fund. “And to the extent that it contributes to the growing prospects of an increasingly westernized Ukraine versus a drifting Russia out into an Asian imperial posture, the political contrast between these two actors will become more Stark.
Thomas Gibbons-Neff reported from Lisichansk, and Matina Stevis-Gridneff from Brussels. Natalya Ermak provided a report from Lisichansk.
