The Ukrainian military said on Sunday it had withdrawn from the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk after Russian forces claimed to have taken the city, which was the last major population center in the Luhansk region that was still under the control of the Ukrainian matrix in a primary victory for Russia four months after the war. iniciar. su invasion.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement that troops had been forced to withdraw from Lysychansk, a city of just 100,000 inhabitants, “to support the lives of Ukrainian defenders,” but warned that infantrymen would return. and “I would definitely win. “
The withdrawal comes hours after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin that forces had taken full control of Lysychansk and several surrounding cities, according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.
Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Yuriy Sak denied the claim last Sunday morning in an interview with the BBC and said the city was not under the full control of Russian troops, but that Ukrainian troops could simply withdraw “from certain areas so we can retake them. “future. . “
The Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment Saturday that Ukrainian troops had likely carried out a planned withdrawal from Lysychansk, and that Ukraine’s counterclaims were likely “obsolete or erroneous. “
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February, but its army has focused in recent months on capturing the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine, collectively known as Donbass, cutting off its targets after encountering fierce Ukrainian resistance and failing to capture major cities like Kiev. Gains in the Donbass region in recent weeks, adding the capture of the town of Lyman in May and the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Severodonetsk last month. Serhiy Hayday, head of the army administration of the Luhansk region, said earlier Sunday in a Facebook post that Russian troops had used more brutal tactics than in Severodonetsk to defeat the resistance, according to a Washington Post translation. Most likely, Russian troops will identify the entire Luhansk region in a few days and then concentrate on Ukrainian positions west of Lysychansk, adding cities such as Siversk, Slovyansk and Bakhmut, according to the assessment of the Institute for the Study of War on Saturday.
$6. 92 billion. That’s the amount of security aid the U. S. has sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February, adding a legal $820 million package on Friday, according to the State Department.
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