Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to continue their offensive in eastern Ukraine on Monday (July 4th) after conquering the entire Lugansk region. Russian forces “must carry out their missions according to the plans already approved”declared the president during an interview with his Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu, broadcast on television. “I hope that in their sectors everything will happen as it happened in Lugansk”he added.
The evening before, the staff of the Ukrainian armed forces had announced its withdrawal from the city of Lysytchansk, the last bastion held by the Ukrainians in the region of Lugansk, recognizing the “superiority” Russian troops on the ground. “We continue to defend a tiny part [du territoire] of the Lugansk region so that our army can” prepare a new line of defense, said Monday morning Serguiï Gaïdaï, governor of this region.
>> VIDEO. War in Ukraine: the city of Lysychansk fell into Russian hands
After taking Lyssytchansk, the centerpiece of the plan to conquer Donbass, a largely Russian-speaking industrial basin and partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, the Russian army now seems to be concentrating its efforts on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, two major cities further east. west, pounded since Sunday. As the front line draws closer, the Ukrainian authorities are now calling on the inhabitants of Sloviansk to leave the region, while trying to slow the advance of the Russian army.