Service members of pro-Russian troops drive an armoured vehicle along a street past a destroyed residential building during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the town of Popasna in the Luhansk Region, Ukraine May 26, 2022. The writing on the vehicle reads: 鈥淰alkyrie鈥�. (REUTERS)
KYIV/POPASNA, Ukraine聽 鈥� Ukraine said on Friday its forces may need to retreat from their last pocket of resistance in Luhansk to avoid being captured by Russian troops pressing a rapid advance in the east that has shifted the momentum of the three-month-old war.
A withdrawal could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin closer to his goal of capturing Ukraine鈥檚 Luhansk and Donetsk regions in full. His troops have gained ground in the two areas collectively known as the Donbas while blasting some towns to wastelands.
Luhansk鈥檚 governor, Serhiy Gaidai, said Russian troops had entered Sievierodonetsk, the largest Donbas city still held by Ukraine, after trying to trap Ukrainian forces there for days. Gaidai said 90% of buildings in the town were damaged.
鈥淭he Russians will not be able to capture Luhansk region in the coming days as analysts have predicted,鈥� Gaidai said on Telegram, referring to Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk across the Siverskiy Donets River.
鈥淲e will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat.鈥�
Moscow鈥檚 separatist proxies said they now controlled Lyman, a railway hub west of Sievierodonetsk. Ukraine said Russia had captured most of Lyman but that its forces were blocking an advance to Sloviansk, a city a half-hour drive further southwest.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleskiy Arestovych said overnight that the well-organised attack on Lyman showed Moscow鈥檚 military, which was driven back from the capital Kyiv in March, was improving its tactics and operations.
鈥楢T GREAT COST鈥�
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Bloomberg UK that Putin 鈥渁t great cost to himself and to the Russian military, is continuing to chew through ground in Donbas鈥�.
Russian troops advanced after piercing Ukrainian lines last week in the city of Popasna, south of Sievierodonetsk. Russian ground forces have now captured several villages northwest of Popasna, Britain鈥檚 Defence Ministry said.
Reached by Reuters journalists in Russian-held territory on Thursday, Popasna was in ruins. The bloated body of a dead man in combat uniform could be seen lying in a courtyard.
Natalia Kovalenko had left the cellar where she sheltered to live in the wreckage of her flat, its windows and balcony blasted away. She said a shell hit the courtyard outside, killing two people and wounding eight.
鈥淚 just have to fix the window somehow. The wind is still bad,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are tired of being so scared.鈥�
Russia鈥檚 eastern gains follow a Ukrainian counter-offensive that pushed Moscow鈥檚 forces back from Ukraine鈥檚 second city Kharkiv in May. But Ukrainian forces have been unable to attack Russian supply lines to the Donbas.
Russian forces shelled parts of Kharkiv on Thursday for the first time in days. Local authorities said nine people were killed. The Kremlin denies targeting civilians.
In the south, where Moscow has seized a swathe of territory since the Feb. 24 invasion, including the strategic port of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials believe Russia aims to impose permanent rule.
Ukraine鈥檚 military said Russia was shipping in military equipment from Russian-annexed Crimea to build defences against any Ukrainian counter-attack and was mining the banks of a reservoir behind a dam on the Dnipro River that separates the forces.
STRUGGLING TO LEAVE
In the Kherson region, north of Crimea, Russian forces were fortifying defences and shelling Ukraine-controlled areas on a daily basis, the region鈥檚 Ukrainian governor Hennadiy Laguta told a media briefing.
He said the humanitarian situation was critical in some areas and people were finding it almost impossible to leave occupied territory, with the exception of a 200-car convoy that left on Wednesday.
On the diplomatic front, European Union officials said a deal might be reached by Sunday to ban deliveries of Russian oil by sea, accounting for about 75% of the bloc鈥檚 supply, but not by pipeline, a compromise to win over Hungary and unblock new sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has criticised the EU for dithering over a ban on Russian energy, saying the bloc was funding Moscow鈥檚 war effort and that delay 鈥渕erely means more Ukrainians being killed.鈥�
In a telephone call with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Putin stuck to his line that a global food crisis caused by the conflict can be resolved only if the West lifts sanctions.
Nehammer, who visited Russia in April, said Putin expressed readiness to discuss a prisoner swap with Ukraine but he said: 鈥淚f he is really ready to negotiate is a complex question.鈥�
Russia鈥檚 blockade of Ukrainian ports has halted shipments of grain, driving up global prices, with both countries major grain exporters. Russia accuses Ukraine of mining the ports and Ukraine has described the Russian position as 鈥渂lackmail鈥�.
Russia, which calls its invasion a 鈥渟pecial military operation鈥�, launched its assault in part to ensure Ukraine does not join the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.
But the war has pushed Sweden and Finland, who were both neutral throughout the Cold War, to apply to join NATO in one of the most significant changes in European security in decades.
The Nordic states鈥� bids have been tripped up over opposition by NATO member Turkey, which contends they harbour people linked to a militant group it deems a terrorist organisation. Swedish and Finnish diplomats met in Turkey on Wednesday to try to bridge their differences.
鈥淚t is not an easy process,鈥� a senior Turkish official told Reuters on Friday, adding that Sweden and Finland must take 鈥渄ifficult鈥� steps to win Ankara鈥檚 support. 鈥淔urther negotiations will continue. But a date doesn鈥檛 seem very close.鈥�