The fall of Mariupol frees up to 20,000 Russian soldiers – troops who are available for the capture of two cities in the Donbass. Is it now happening very quickly in eastern Ukraine, or is Sievjerodonetsk becoming the next nest of resistance?
Mariupol fell. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the capture of the port city, which once had almost 500,000 inhabitants, is the greatest success in the almost four-month war against Ukraine. In the steelworks there, the last of more than 2,400 Ukrainian fighters gave up after many weeks. The Russian media used the moment the men left the factory to brand them “neo-Nazis” again. The Kremlin cited the liberation of Ukraine from alleged Nazi rule as the reason for the war. And the Azov regiment, which defended the plant to the last, was once founded by self-confessed neo-Nazis.
Soldiers with Hitler tattoos?
The Azov soldiers are now part of the regular Ukrainian troops, but some of the fighters are still likely to adhere to far-right ideas. As if to prove it, they had to undress in front of Russian cameras, and the pictures sometimes showed clear tattoos. “These aren’t comics,” says a Moscow war reporter. Skulls, swastikas and, again and again, a “black sun” are shown, allegedly the nationalists’ identification symbol, but also a picture of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Persistent resistance in Mariupol to Moscow’s invasion has long ensured that up to 20,000 Russian soldiers were tied down with heavy equipment, according to Ukrainian sources. However, these units are free again after the city has been taken and could now bring the decisive advantage for the halting offensive towards Slovjansk or the pocket at Sievjerodonetsk that is becoming apparent.
The 100,000-inhabitant city and its twin town Lysychansk in the Luhansk region are the next major stages in Russia’s advance. The military leadership in Kyiv assumes that the pro-Russian forces, with Moscow’s help, will step up their advance in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in order to wrest the entire Donbass completely from Ukrainian control. They are also concerned about a fixed land connection to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. According to information from Kyiv, the Russians have so far tried unsuccessfully to storm towns around Sievjerodonetsk – despite countless Russian attacks. The Ministry of Defense there speaks of 580 attacks.
Russia’s troops with pincer movement
According to the US military institute ISW, Moscow troops are advancing on the city from the north, west and east. “The Russians are wiping out both Sieverodonetsk and Mariupol. Fighting is raging in the outskirts of the city,” said Ukrainian military governor of Luhansk Serhiy Hayday. Statements by Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who claimed that the Luhansk region was about to be completely taken over, dismissed Hajday as “nonsense”.
It is probably the goal of the Russian units to cut off the supplies from the Donetsk region and encircle the Ukrainians around Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk. To do this, according to the ISW, the Russian military would slowly but surely advance west and north from the town of Popasna, south of Sieverodonetsk, and interrupt the important supply route that connects the town of Bakhmut with Sieberodonetsk and Lysychansk.
Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk are the last two cities in the Luhansk region still under Kyiv’s control. The coming days will show how strong the resistance against the Russian invaders is. According to the latest reports from Ukraine, hostilities in the Avdiivka, Kurakhove, Novopavlivka and Zaporizhia direction have abated, as a general staff spokesman said. A total of eleven enemy attacks were repelled. Because of the high losses, Russia now has to reactivate the decommissioned T-62 tanks in order to equip reserve units. The information has not yet been independently verified.
Sources: DPA, AFP, ,
Source: Stern
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