It is a symbolic advance, if it is proven. This Saturday, separatists backed by the Russian army claimed to have “totally” surrounded Lyssytchansk, in eastern Ukraine, a key city at the heart of intense fighting in recent days. The army of kyiv affirms that “the city is not surrounded and it is under control of the Ukrainian army”. The spokesperson for the National Guard of Ukraine confirms, however, that “the fighting is raging”.
“Today the Luhansk People’s Militia (the separatist army) and the Russian armed forces occupied the last strategic heights, which allows us to affirm that the locality of Lysytchansk is completely surrounded”, indicated a representative of the separatist army of Luhansk, Andrey Marotchko, quoted by the agency of Russian press TASS.
Another representative of the separatist authorities, Vitali Kisselev, clarified these assertions by indicating to TASS that the fighters “are now in the Chakhtar stadium area”, close to the center of this city which before the conflict had nearly 100,000 inhabitants.
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) had for its part evoked Russian “offensive operations” carried out on Friday south and south-west of Lysytchansk with the “aim of encircling the city and cutting off the roads Ukrainian logistics”. Also according to the ISW, Russian forces “carried out artillery fire and airstrikes along the T1302 Bakhmut-Lyssychansk highway”, but without completely cutting the road on Friday.
A strategic city
Lyssychansk is the last major city in the Luhansk region controlled by the Ukrainian army. It is the twin of that of Sievierodonetsk, conquered last week by Moscow after the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces after a battle lasting several weeks. The two towns are only separated by the Donets River.
The capture of Lyssytchansk would allow the Russian army to then advance towards Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, two other large cities in the industrial region of Donbass, which Moscow is seeking to conquer.