Putin says invasion going ‘to plan’ as Russia fights to encircle Ukraine’s last eastern stronghold
- Moscow’s forces are pushing towards Lysychansk in a bid to control the entire Donbas region
- Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to say how much longer the fighting would last
Russia pressed on with its offensive in eastern Ukraine on Thursday after Nato branded Moscow the biggest “direct threat” to Western security and agreed plans to modernise Kyiv’s beleaguered armed forces.
Ukrainian authorities said they were trying to evacuate residents from the frontline eastern city of Lysychansk, the focus of Russia’s attacks where about 15,000 people remained under relentless shelling.
“Fighting is going on all the time. The Russians are constantly on the offensive. There is no let-up,” regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian television.
Russian troops had attacked the Lysychansk oil refinery on Thursday morning, Gaidai later wrote on Telegram.
The ambassador of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic told Russia’s RIA news agency the Lysychansk oil refinery was now fully controlled by Russian and pro-Russian forces, and all roads to Lysychansk were also under their control.
After failing to reach the Ukrainian capital Kyiv following unexpectedly fierce resistance, Russian forces have been focusing their efforts on capturing the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
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Russian forces are trying to encircle Lysychansk as they seek to capture the Donbas region, which comprises Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
At a summit on Wednesday dominated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the geopolitical upheaval it has caused, Nato invited Sweden and Finland to join and pledged a seven-fold increase from 2023 in combat forces on high alert along its eastern flank.
Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelensky also joined the Madrid summit via video-link, calling for more weapons supplies for his country and warning of further Russian aggression in Europe.
US President Joe Biden announced more land, sea and air force deployments across Europe from Spain in the west to Romania and Poland bordering Ukraine.
These included a permanent army headquarters with accompanying battalion in Poland – the first full-time US deployment on Nato’s eastern fringes.
“President Putin’s war against Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and has created the biggest security crisis in Europe since the Second World War,” Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference, committing to put 300,000 Nato troops on high readiness from 2023. “Nato has responded with strength and unity.”
Britain said it would provide another £1 billion (US$1.2 billion) of military support to Ukraine, including air defence systems, uncrewed aerial vehicles and new electronic warfare equipment.
In reaction, President Vladimir Putin said Russia would respond in kind if Nato set up infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they join the US-led military alliance.
Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying he could not rule out that tensions would emerge in Moscow’s relations with Helsinki and Stockholm over their joining Nato.
Nato invites Sweden and Finland to join, calls Russia a ‘direct threat’
The Russian leader again claimed the Kremlin’s “special military operation” is continuing to go to plan, more than four months into Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
“Work is going on calmly, methodically, the troops are advancing and reaching the milestones that are set for each stage of this war effort,” Putin told Russian journalists during a visit to Turkmenistan on Wednesday.
“Everything is going according to plan,” the Russian news agency Tass quoted him as saying. Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 in advances from multiple directions.
According to analysts, while the Russian military is continuing its advance, it has also been suffering heavy losses and is rapidly using up its stockpiles of artillery shells.
Putin reiterated his claim that the main goal of the invasion was “liberating” the Donbas, “protecting” its inhabitants and “creating conditions that would guarantee Russia’s security”, adding that Nato had wanted to turn Ukraine into an “anti-Russian bridgehead”.
Putin refused to comment on how much longer the fighting would last. “It would be wrong to set any deadlines,” he said, adding that intensifying the fighting would mean higher casualties and “we must think first of all about how to preserve the lives of our boys”.
The top US intelligence official Avril Haines said on Wednesday the most likely near term scenario is a grinding conflict in which Moscow makes only incremental gains, but no breakthrough on its goal of taking most of Ukraine.
Reuters and dpa
