Russian forces have stepped up their assault on the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk as Moscow now appears focused on securing and expanding its gains in the Donbas and the southern coast.
As the conflict entered its fourth month, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned in his nightly address on May 24 that the coming period of time will be “extremely difficult,” especially in the eastern Donbas region.
“All the power of the Russian Army, which still remains in them, has been thrown into the attack,” Zelenskiy said.
The Russian forces are aiming to destroy everything in Lyman, Popasna, Severodonetsk, and Slovyansk, he said.
“But in the interceptions of their conversations, we hear that they are well aware that this war does not make sense for Russia and that strategically their army has no chance,” he said.
It will take time and “a lot of extraordinary efforts” for Ukrainians to break their advantage in equipment and weapons, Zelenskiy said, as he again called for Western countries to supply more heavy weapons.
Providing rocket-propelled grenades, tanks, anti-ship, and other weapons to Ukraine is the best investment to maintain stability in the world and prevent many “severe crises” that he said Russia is still planning.
Zelenskiy spoke earlier on May 24 to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying that Russia had carried out nearly 1,500 missile strikes and over 3,000 air strikes against Ukraine in the first three months of the war.
British intelligence said in its daily report on May 24 that Russians are seeking to encircle Severodonetsk, a city of some 100,000 people, but are also focusing their attacks on Lysychansk and Rubyzhne in the same area.
The report said that Russian forces had achieved some localized successes in the area with the aid of intense artillery fire, but Ukrainian resistance is strong and Kyiv’s Joint Force Operation command structure has remained in control of this segment of the front.
Russia’s capture of Severodonetsk would see the whole of the Luhansk region falling under Russian occupation, the report said.
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Source: RFERL
