文/ Fat Guy Eggplant
After more than a month of focused offensive by the Russian army, the Ukrainian defenders of Severodonetsk finally fled across the board, and the Russian tricolor flag began to rise in the city. Some scholars pointed out that this means that Putin's "Battle of Donbass" is already in sight, but Zelensky seems to be unwilling to do so and still wants to "make a comeback."
According to Global Network citing RIA Novosti reported on June 26, after several months of fighting and more than a month of focus, the Ukrainian garrison responsible for guarding Severodonetsk finally couldn't hold it anymore. It is reported that just a few days ago, the local Ukrainian army had withdrawn across the board to Lixichansk, a satellite city of Beidun City, to reorganize its defenses, handing over the entire city to the Russian army. At present, the tricolor flag representing Russia has been raised over this city with a population of more than 100,000, and civilians who were originally hiding in various underground bunkers and factories have begun to evacuate one after another to avoid being affected by the fighting.
It is reported that the Russian army has currently mobilized more than 300,000 troops on the Beidon front line, which is almost one-third of the main force of the Russian army. This shows the strong determination of the Russian army to win the area. With their advantages in numbers and equipment, the Russian army has now begun to besiege Lisichansk, and at the same time captured the two nearby towns of Voronov and Borivsk. However, a recent offensive by the Russian army in the southwest of the city did not bear fruit. Once the city is lost, most of the territory in the Donbass region will be controlled by Russia, and Ukraine's ambition to "recover Donbass" will be even more difficult to achieve.
The reason why the Russian army is able to achieve more and more results is also related to its military means of escalating force. According to reports, just recently, the Russian military also used the Tu-22M3 strategic supersonic bomber flying from the direction of Belarus for the first time, using missiles to bomb military targets in the deep areas of northern and western Ukraine. The Ski authorities exerted greater military pressure. It is worth mentioning that Russia has also recently promised to provide Belarus with the Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile with nuclear strike capabilities. This is also the first time that Russia has provided such high-standard weapons to an allied country. Some experts commented that this was one of Putin's methods to urge Lukashenko to join the war. He hoped that Belarus's participation would help Russia secure victory more quickly, and at the same time, it could also deter small neighboring countries and prevent some countries from taking advantage of the opportunity. thing.
Interestingly, the Ukrainian authorities still showed full "optimism" in the face of this very unfavorable situation. Uzbek intelligence official Budarov said recently that Ukraine still plans to launch a counterattack in the Donbass and Kherson regions, and that the Uzbek army still has enough strength to "fight to the death" with the help of its allies. He also revealed that the Uzbek army's counterattack may start from July to August, and is expected to achieve "remarkable results" in August. This is not the first time that Ukrainian officials have threatened to counterattack Russia. Previously, Zelensky even claimed to mobilize one million troops to counterattack the Russian army. However, so far, the Ukrainian army’s effective strength has still not been adequately supplemented, and modern weapons and equipment have been consumed. The speed is much higher than that supported by Western countries. Judging from this, Ukraine basically does not have the ability to launch a strategic counterattack against the Russian-occupied areas.
As the focus of the battle between the Russian and Ukrainian armies shifted to the city of Lisichansk, the direction of the Donbass battle became obvious. From the current point of view, it is only a matter of time before the Russian army, which has an absolute advantage, wants to capture the city. Once the city is controlled, all the major cities in the entire Luhansk region will be controlled by Russia. In essence, the Donbas region Control of the country will be vested in Russia. Therefore, Putin’s “Battle of Donbass” can already be said to be a victory. For the Zelensky government, whether it should consider negotiating peace with Russia after losing Lischichansk and accept this tragic reality is a question that it has to think about.
