In the eastern region of Ukraine , with the fierce offensive of the Russian army, the Ukrainian army retreated steadily, and even lost the last remaining stronghold in the Luhansk area. According to Global Network reports, the Russian army has completely controlled Lisichansk , an important town in eastern Ukraine. At this point, the entire territory of Luhansk was controlled by the Russian army.
Russian Defense Minister Shoigu said when reporting the results of the war to President Putin that the "Luhansk People's Republic" had achieved "the liberation of the entire territory." In this regard, although Kiev denied it, the Ukrainian military admitted that it had withdrawn its troops from the local area. Of course, although the Russian army captured Lisichansk, this does not mean the complete end of the war in Donbass. The Ukrainian army still has a lot of territory in Donetsk , and more difficult battles may still be there. later.
It can be seen from the current battlefield situation that the Russian army’s next stage of combat goal should be to completely eliminate or expel the Ukrainian army from Donetsk, especially against Slavyansk and Kramatorsk and other key towns. In this regard, the Russian army will most likely still adopt the "steady and steady" tactics, relying on air and artillery superiority to kill a large number of Ukrainian troops and destroy firepower points such as bunkers, and then use the tank to open the way to achieve a breakthrough. However, compared with the Luhansk area, the Ukrainian army's remaining town strongholds in Donetsk are denser, which also means that its defense line will be stronger, and the Russian army will face a new round of severe challenges.
Looking back at Ukraine, the loss of large areas of territory has made Ukraine become more and more "unscrupulous", and its attacks on Russia have become increasingly crazy. On the day when Russia announced that it had captured Lischichansk, the Ukrainian army used missiles and drones to launch attacks on residential areas in Belgorod and Kursk, Russia. Due to the high frequency and intensity of strikes, even if the Russian military's air defense system intercepted, many residential buildings were still damaged, causing at least five deaths.
It is conceivable that the reverse attack from Ukraine will undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on the Putin government. Thinking about it this way, in the context of the fierce fighting between the Russian and Ukrainian armies, Russia's methods may gradually break through the previous principle of "not destroying civilian infrastructure". Key cities in Ukraine will once again be attacked by Russian air strikes. It cannot be ruled out that there will be Tragedy of civilian casualties emerged.
Of course, now that the Luhansk region has "changed ownership", it is basically only a matter of time before Russia takes over the entire Udong region. This also means that while the Russian army is attacking the Ukrainian defenders in Donetsk, it may continue to divide its forces and advance westward and southward. In the foreseeable future, that is, after the Russian army consolidates its results in Ukraine, there is a high probability that it will start a new phase of military goals, that is, to integrate Odessa , Nikolayev and Kharkov into "In the pocket".
Not long ago, the Russian army withdrew from Snake Island . It seemed like a "defeat", but in fact it was a way to reduce the burden on itself. This only shows that the Russian army has temporarily given up attacking Odessa through amphibious operations , which does not mean giving up. Attack the city by land route. In the future, the Russian army may first advance westward to Kharkov through the Donbass area. After conquering Kharkov, it may gather westward from Zaporozhye and Kherson places. Then attack Nikolayev and Odessa from the land route.
In short, a new round of fierce confrontation between Russia and Ukraine is just around the corner. If the Zelenskiy government and the Ukrainian military are still unable to block the Russian offensive, they can only watch the country being "gnawed away" one by one...
