Russia is focusing its forces around Sievierodonetsk. They’re trying to surround our troops and our troops are doing all they can to prevent them.
By
HARRY SUSILO AND KRIS MADA FROM UKRAINE
·5 minutes read
AFP/ARIS MESSINIS
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (2nd L) arrives to attend a military drill outside the city of Rivne, northern Ukraine on February 16, 2022.
KYIV, KOMPAS – Ukraine continues to lose control of its territory in the east. Heavy fighting accompanied by artillery and air strikes continue in several provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine, while martial law authorities attempt to evacuate residents from the war zone.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the conditions in Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk, both in Luhansk province, are very difficult. “Without exaggeration, the decisive battle is underway in Sievierodonetsk and its surroundings. The enemy plans to reach the Luhansk border on June 26,” she said on Monday (20/6/2022) in Kyiv.
Maliar did not specify which Luhansk border Russia would reach from Sievierodonetsk, a city in Luhansk that has been under heavy Russian attack for weeks. It is 20 kilometers from Sievierodonetsk to the Luhansk-Donetsk border. Meanwhile, the closest distance from Sievierodonetsk to the Luhansk-Kharkiv border is 55 km.
“Russia is focusing its forces around Sievierodonetsk. They’re trying to surround our troops and our troops are doing all they can to prevent them,” she said.
Oleksander Stryuk, the city’s military commander, added that Ukrainian troops were holding out in the industrial area and its surroundings. They are also fending off attacks on the opposite side of the Seversky Donets river. Gunfights and aerial bombardments continue night and day. “Russia has occupied almost all settlements. The wars on the street are non-stop,” he said.
Luhansk’s military commander Sergei Hidai admitted that Metolkin on the outskirts of Sievierodonetsk has been occupied by Russia. Meanwhile, the bridge connecting Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk has been destroyed. Lysychansk continues to be targeted by artillery and air strikes. Toshkivka and Ustynivka districts were also targets of similar attacks.
AFP/FADEL SENNA
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova (C) and Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Britain's Karim Khan (R), visit a mass grave on the grounds of the Church of Saint Andrew in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on April 13, 2022, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine. - A visit by the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor to Bucha -- the Kyiv suburb now synonymous with scores of atrocities against civilians discovered in areas abandoned by Russian forces -- came as the new front of the war shifts eastward, with new allegations of crimes inflicted on locals.
Ukrainian Armed Forces spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun said Russia was trying to hinder Ukraine’s consolidation in Lyman, Avdiivka, Kurakhiv, Novopavlivske and Zaporizhia. In addition to artillery strikes, Russia also uses air strikes to impede the movement of Ukrainian troops.
Kyiv has monitored Moscow’s air strikes on several districts in Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia. Meanwhile, naval strike missiles were aimed toward Odesa, Kherson and Zaporizhia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the intensity of Russia’s attacks would increase this week, ahead of the European Union’s (EU) decision regarding Ukraine’s membership.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia had no objection to Ukraine becoming a member of the EU but objected to Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This is because Moscow fears that NATO will use Ukraine as a base to attack Russia.
Article 427 of the Lisbon Treaty clearly states that all EU members will use all means to assist a member who is under attack.
In the Treaty of Lisbon, which is considered the EU’s Constitution, both contain clauses of mutual assistance if a member is attacked by another party. Article 427 of the Lisbon Treaty clearly states that all EU members will use all means to assist a member who is under attack.
Some EU members are already helping Ukraine. In addition to supplying weapons, they are also accommodating Ukrainian citizens who have fled since the war broke out.
Most have fled
Hidai said Ukraine commemorated World Refugee Day by becoming the European country with the most people displaced by war. Most Ukrainian refugees now come from Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Kherson. “Several years ago, we were the ones that accommodated refugees. Since 2014, we instead became the ones that need to seek refuge,” he said.
Hidai refers to the time when the civil war in Ukraine first began. Luhansk and Donetsk citizens opposed Viktor Yanukoyvch’s overthrow as Ukrainian president in February 2014, which sparked an armed uprising that continues to this day. Time and again, peace efforts mediated by several countries bore no fruit. From just Luhansk and Donetsk, the war has now spread to all corners of the country since 24 February 2022.
Claiming that this was the request of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic, Putin ordered a special military operation into Ukraine and recognized the sovereignty of the two Ukrainian separatist regions on 20 February 2022.
Millions of people have been displaced inside and outside Ukraine since the war in 2014 until now. There are at least 2 million refugees from Luhansk alone. This figure is even higher including refugees from other provinces or oblasts.
According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), as many as 7.7 million Ukrainians have fled since the war broke out. Among them, about 2.5 million people have already returned.
AFP/YASUYOSHI CHIBA
A woman cleans a room at an apartment damaged by a missile explosion in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on May 5, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, 3.3 million Ukrainians have obtained temporary refugee status in Europe. This allows them to work and access social security as well as health services. Children with this status can also go to school with residents in the area they are taking refuge.
On the other hand, there are 1.9 million refugees who have yet to obtain refugee status or return to Ukraine. All that is known is that they have not been documented as having returned to the country.
