Ukraine: Russia intensifies Donbas offensive as war enters fourth month
- Russia sent thousands of troops to capture the entire region, area under massive attack, governor of Lugansk said, warning residents it’s too late to evacuate
- Tens of thousands of lives would have been saved if Kyiv had received ‘100 per cent of our needs at once back in February’, when Russia invaded, Zelensky said
Russian forces on Tuesday stepped up their offensive on the last pocket of resistance around Lugansk in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, as the conflict entered its fourth month.
Since Moscow’s invasion in late February, Western support has helped Ukraine hold off its neighbour’s advances in many areas – including the capital Kyiv – but Russia is now focused on securing and expanding its gains in Donbas and the southern coast.
“The coming weeks of the war will be difficult, and we must be aware of that,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday in his nightly address after regional leaders and residents reported heavy bombardments.
“The most difficult fighting situation today is in Donbas,” Zelensky said, singling out the worst-hit towns of Bakhmut, Popasna and Severodonetsk.
The governor of Lugansk, in Donbas, said that Russia has sent thousands of troops to capture his entire region and that Severodonetsk was under massive attack, warning residents that it was too late to evacuate.