The last remnants of Ukrainian forces have been driven out of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced on Sunday. He reported the news to President Vladimir Putin, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Shoigu said Russian troops and Donbass forces had completely seized Lisichansk, the last major city which had remained under Ukrainian control since 2014, when the LPR declared its independence shortly after a coup in Kiev.
Russia and Ukraine reported heavy fighting around Lisichansk earlier this week, with the most fierce combat occurring at the city’s oil refinery.
News of the capture of Lisichansk comes after Ukrainian troops retreated from Severodonetsk, a nearby city on the opposite side of the Seversky Donets River, last week. The fighting for Severodonetsk had lasted for several months.
During the past 10 days, around Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, the Ukrainians lost 3,000 soldiers, and had another 5,000 wounded. Lisichansk was a strategic town that Ukraine indeed couldn’t afford to lose as it controlled a wide network of roads connecting other cities and parts of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Pentagon praised Kiev for their “strategic retreat” (there has been quite a few of those), and believe with some better weapons which the U.S. is supplying, the tide will be turned in Ukraine’s favor.
Washington is doing absolute all they can to prolong the war as Zelensky confirmed today that Ukraine has lost 60,000 soldiers and over 50,000 wounded. According to Moscow whose stats have proven much more reliable than Kiev’s, Ukraine has lost over 90,000 soldiers! It’s no surprise then that videos are circulating online of Ukrainian cops in Lvov forcibly recruiting males who are simply walking their dogs in the park.