The status of eastern Ukrainian Lysychansk, the last major city in the Luhansk region still in the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces, is unclear on Saturday. According to Russia, the conquest of Lysychansk is a fact, after it had already reported the encirclement of the city. Ukraine earlier in the day denied the encirclement of the city, which has been fiercely fought over for weeks.
On Saturday afternoon, the Russian state news agency TASS reported that Russian soldiers and fighters from the pro-Russian “People’s Republic” Luhansk (LPR) had already cleared the higher area around Lysychansk. had conquered† The source for that claim was Andrei Marochko, an officer in the LPR armed forces. “Lysychansk is completely surrounded by it,” said Marochko. A spokesman for the Ukrainian army later denied that claim, according to AFP news agency. The fighting was “to rage in full force,” but the city’s spokesman said it was “fortunately not surrounded and [nog altijd] in the hands of the Ukrainian army”.
Later on Saturday, the same Andrei Marochko . posted a video on his Telegram page, which was picked up by state news agency TASS. The video shows a soldier waving a red hammer and sickle flag at the smoldering rubble of what Marochko describes as “Lysyansk Town Hall.” Photo material of the town hall before the war seems to indicate that the video images of Marochko are indeed the same building. Whether the presence of pro-Russian troops at Lysychansk’s town hall means the Ukrainians have been driven out of the city altogether is unclear.
If Russia gets its hands on Lysychansk, it will effectively control the entire Luhansk region. That would be a major victory for the Russians in the battle for the Donbas, which has been the Kremlin’s main war target in recent months. Last week, Shevyerodonetsk, located right next to Lysychansk, fell into Russian hands.
This article is also part of our live blog: Uncertainty about situation in Lysychansk, Russians claim intake