Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky believes that his forces have so far exceeded expectations by preventing Russian forces from invading eastern Ukraine and have responded brilliantly to the February 24 military offensive.
“You remember how they hoped at the beginning of the month that they wanted to take over the whole of Donbass, but it has continued,” Zelensky said in a video speech late Saturday.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces failed to capture the capital, Kyiv or any of the surrounding areas, they focused their efforts on the Donbas region in the east, bordering Russia, where pro-Moscow separatists They control this area rich in mines. Since 2014
But instead of quick and decisive control, Russian forces engaged in a long and difficult battle over the use of Western weapons by the Ukrainian army.
On Sunday, heavy fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the cities of Sorodontsk and Lichansk, where President Zelinsky spoke of a “street conflict.”
“While no one knows when the current war will end, Ukraine must do its utmost to make the Russians regret what they have done,” he said. O we respond to our wonderful country. .
Zelensky claimed that Russia had suffered about three times the military casualties suffered by the Ukrainian side.
The Ukrainian government estimated late last month that the Russians had lost more than 30,000 troops since the offensive began on February 24.
And the Ukrainian General Staff announced Sunday morning that Russian forces had launched attacks on Sorodontsk “without success.”
He noted that Ukrainian troops had repelled the Moscow army near Verubioka, Mikulayuka and Vasyuka.
And Sorodontesk’s control of Moscow paves the way for another large city called Kramatorsk in the Donbass Basin, a predominantly Russian-speaking region that Russia wants to control completely.
In Severodonetsk, city defenders are hiding in the Azot chemical plant.
“The fighting continues,” said Sergei Gaidai, the governor of Lugansk region.
“The area around the nitrogen plant is being bombarded for hours with high-caliber weapons,” he said.
He spoke of “street clashes with firearms” and the destruction of buildings used by Ukrainian forces as “floor-to-floor” shelters by Russian artillery.
“To discourage our forces, the enemy is bombarding our positions and trying to win with artillery fire,” said the Ukrainian Operations Command in the southern region.
He added that in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian Air Force destroyed ammunition and equipment depots in three airstrikes without specifying their location.
For his part, Leonid Bashnik, an official in the Luhansk breakaway region, acknowledged that Sorodontsk had not been “fully liberated.”
“In any case, Sorodontsk will be our high school,” he said.
Source: Lebanon Debate
