Russia announced yesterday that it had taken control of the strategic city of Lischansk and the entire Luhansk region, in what would be a decisive breakthrough for Moscow’s forces seeking to control the country’s east. This comes at a time when Belarus announced it had intercepted rockets fired by Kyiv and Russia reported that Ukraine fired three cluster rockets at Belgorod in an attack that killed four people. Lischansk was the last major city in the Luhansk region of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine that remained in Ukrainian hands. Its control is indicative of a major Russian offensive in the Donbas, which Moscow has been focusing on since its withdrawal from Kyiv. The Ukrainian side has not yet commented on information related to the fall of Lischansk after several days of violent clashes.
“Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Sergei Shoigu informed Vladimir Putin about the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement circulated by local news agencies. A few minutes before the announcement, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said that fighting was taking place in Lysechansk and Ukrainian forces were “completely” surrounded.
The Russian announcement comes after Moscow said its air defenses shot down three Tochka-U cluster missiles fired by “Ukrainian nationalists” at Belgorod, a Russian city close to the Ukrainian border. The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that 11 apartment buildings and 39 residential buildings were damaged as a result of the shelling. Earlier, Moscow accused Kyiv of delivering strikes on Russian territory, in particular, in the Belgorod region. In turn, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused Kyiv of “provoking” his country and said that his army had intercepted rockets fired by Ukrainian troops at Belarus “about three days ago.”
Belarus is one of Russia’s most prominent allies and backed the February 24 invasion, while Kyiv accused it of attacking Ukraine.
But Lukashenko has denied any role for his country in the border incident. Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian bombardments continued in Ukraine amid heavy fighting.
“Fierce fighting continues along the front line in Donbass,” Zelensky said, adding that “the enemy is stepping up its activity in the Kharkiv region.” A resident of the small Donetsk town of Seversk told AFP that “shelling continues day and night.” Rockets also hit houses in Slovyansk, in the center of Donbass, killing a woman in her garden and injuring her husband, a neighbor told AFP on Saturday, referring to shrapnel scattered around the area. An eyewitness said Friday’s strike is believed to have been caused by cluster munitions that spread over a wide area before detonating and hitting buildings and people outside.
And Zelenskiy warned against complacency in cities that have not experienced the violence of other cities.
