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Ukrainian servicemen operate a tank near the frontline in Donetsk region on Monday. Photo: AP

Russia claims ‘97 per cent control’ of flashpoint Luhansk province in eastern Ukraine

  • Russia’s defence minister says Moscow’s forces hold nearly all of Luhansk province, bringing it closer to fully capturing the Donbas region
  • Ukrainian forces may have pull back to stronger positions in the strategic eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk governor says
Ukraine war

Russia drew closer to its goal of fully capturing Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories as the Kremlin claimed to have taken control of 97 per cent of one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas region.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Moscow’s forces hold nearly all of Luhansk province. And it appears that Russia now occupies roughly half of Donetsk province, according to Ukrainian officials.

After abandoning its bungled attempt to storm Kyiv two months ago, Russia declared that taking the entire Donbas is its main objective. Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian government forces in the Donbas since 2014, and the region has borne the brunt of the Russian onslaught in recent weeks.

Early in the war, Russian troops also took control of the entire Kherson region and a large part of the Zaporizhzhia region, both in the south. Russian officials and their local appointees have talked about plans for those regions to either declare their independence or be folded into Russia.

But in what may be the latest instance of anti-Russian sabotage inside Ukraine, Russian state media said on Tuesday that an explosion at a cafe in the city of Kherson wounded four people. Tass called the apparent bombing in the Russian-occupied city a “terror act”.

Before the February 24 invasion, Ukrainian officials said Russia controlled some 7 per cent of the country, including the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, and areas held by the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces hold 20 per cent of the country.

Russia controls fifth of Ukraine, Zelensky says as war enters 100th day

While Russia has superior firepower, the Ukrainian defenders are entrenched and have shown the ability to counter-attack.

Zelensky said Russian forces made no significant advances in the eastern Donbas region over the past day.

“The absolutely heroic defence of the Donbas continues,” he said late Tuesday in his nightly video address.

Zelensky said the Russians clearly did not expect to meet so much resistance and are now trying to bring in additional troops and equipment. He said the same was true in the Kherson region.

Speaking earlier to a Financial Times conference, Zelensky insisted on Ukraine’s need to defeat Russia on the battlefield but also said he is still open to peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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100 days of war: What has happened in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion?

100 days of war: What has happened in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion?

Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, said Moscow’s forces have seized the residential quarters of Sievierodonetsk and were fighting to take control of an industrial zone on the city’s outskirts and nearby towns.

Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk have seen heavy fighting in recent weeks. They are among a few cities and towns in the Luhansk region still holding out against the Russian invasion, which is being helped by local pro-Kremlin forces.

Shoigu added that Russian troops were pressing their offensive toward the town of Popasna and have taken control of Lyman and Sviatohirsk and 15 other towns in the region.

Ukraine’s Zelensky visits close to war front line near Sievierodonetsk

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak urged his people not to be downhearted about the battlefield reverses.

“Don’t let the news that we’ve ceded something scare you,” he said in a video address. “It is clear that tactical manoeuvres are ongoing. We cede something, we take something back.”

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai conceded that Ukraine’s military may have to pull back to stronger positions in Sievierodonetsk - but they will not give up the city.

The city of Sievierodonetsk has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks. Photo: AFP

“Fighting is still going and no one is going to give up the city even if our military has to step back to stronger positions. This will not mean someone is giving up the city - no one will give up anything. But it’s possible (they) will be forced to pull back,” he said on Wednesday.

“We expect the amount of shelling and bombardments of Lyshychansk and Sievierodonetsk to increase many times, huge offensives in the Sievierodonetsk and Popasna direction and attempts to once again cross the Siverskyi Donets River to create a bridgehead and further develop the offensive.”

Lanny Davis, a US lawyer for Ukraine tycoon Dmytro Firtash, said 800 civilians had taken refuge in the bunkers inside Firtash’s huge Azot chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk.

“These 800 civilians include around 200 out of the plant’s 3,000 employees and approximately 600 inhabitants of the city of Sievierodonetsk,” Davis said.

In other developments, Zelensky said Ukraine planned to publish a special “Book of Executioners” next week with information about war crimes committed by the Russian army.

“These are specific facts about specific people who are guilty of specific cruel crimes against Ukrainians,” he said. Those named would include not only people who carried out the crimes but their commanders, he said.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters

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