Russian forces attacked Sievierodonetsk, the largest city in Donbass still under Ukrainian rule, on Saturday after capturing Liman, a nearby railway hub, according to the Kremlin.
After several days of fighting, the Russian Defense Ministry said Liman was under Moscow’s full control – a victory that would help set the stage for the next phase of the offensive in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
Pro-Russian separatists from the self-proclaimed people’s republic of Donetsk had already said on Friday that they had captured the city, located west of Sievierodonetsk, the main focus of the Moscow offensive.
The Ukrainian government itself admitted that the Russians had taken much of Liman, although, according to Kiev, Ukrainian forces were still blocking an advance to Sloviansk, 20 km to the southwest.
“The situation in Donbass is very, very difficult,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky. “We protect our land and we do everything to reinforce” the defense of the region, he added.
In his evening speech, Zelensky remained defiant. “If the occupiers think Liman and Sievierodonetsk will be theirs, they are wrong. The Donbass will be Ukrainian,” he said.
The governor of the Lugansk region, which together with Donetsk makes up the Donbass, had said on Friday that Russian troops had entered Sievierodonetsk. Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Saturday that Russia had carried out artillery strikes in the city area, but “without success”.
The Ukrainian statement said Kiev troops repelled eight attacks in Donetsk and Lugansk in the past 24 hours, but that several Russian attacks hit infrastructure and communities near the large city of Kharkiv.
In the south, where Moscow has conquered a swath of territory since the invasion, including the port of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials say Russia intends to impose a permanent government.
Also on Saturday, Russia said it had used missile strikes to destroy Ukrainian command posts in Bakhmut and Soledar. Both cities are close to a strategically important road that runs southwest to Lisichansk and Sievierodonetsk.
According to the Kremlin, Moscow forces destroyed five command and observation posts, hit areas where Ukrainian soldiers and equipment were located, and destroyed ammunition depots near the municipalities of Nirkove, Bakhmut and Mironivka. The Reuters news agency was unable to independently confirm Russia’s claims.
new impetus
Russian gains indicate a shift in the momentum of the war. Although the forces that invaded Ukraine on February 24 failed to capture the capital, Kiev, in the early stages of the conflict, are now making slow but steady advances into Donbass, much of which was already controlled by Moscow-backed separatists before the war.
The tactics involved mass artillery bombardments and air strikes that devastated towns and cities.
“If Russia were able to take over these areas, it would likely be seen by the Kremlin as a substantive political achievement and would be shown to the Russian people as justifying the invasion,” the British Defense Ministry said on Saturday in its daily intelligence report.
According to the British briefing, control of a bridge over the Siverski Donets River near Liman would give Russia an advantage in the potential next phase of the offensive, and Russian forces will likely attempt to cross the river in the coming days.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is undertaking a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine and free the Russian-speaking population from the risk of what he calls genocide. Both Kiev and Western countries claim that the justifications are false pretexts to attack the country.
Russia eliminates maximum age for military service
This Saturday (28), the Russian state agency RIA Novosti reported that President Vladimir Putin signed a law eliminating the maximum age limit for military service.
Until now, the age range allowed was 18 to 40 years old for citizens and 18 to 30 years old for foreigners.
According to a note accompanying the decree published on the official legal portal, the operation of weapons and high-precision military equipment requires “highly professional specialists”, who usually reach this level between 40 and 45 years old.
According to the authors of the law, passed by Parliament three days ago, the changes will allow people to join the military who specialize mainly in civilian operations – such as medical support, engineering and communications.
The first contracts under the new legislation will be with Russians and foreigners who are under the age of 50, said deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry, Nikolai Pankov.
Also on Saturday, Putin spoke by phone with his colleagues in France and Germany, saying he was willing to discuss the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports from ports on the Black Sea.
“Russia stands ready to help find options for unhindered grain exports, including the export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports,” the Kremlin said, after Putin’s conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor. Olaf Scholz.
Putin also said in the phone call that his country was willing to increase exports of fertilizers and agricultural products if sanctions against Moscow were lifted – a demand he had already presented in talks with the leaders of Italy and Austria in recent days.
Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of the global wheat supply. Russia is also a major exporter of fertilizers and Ukraine of corn and sunflower oil.
Kiev and Western countries blame Moscow for the food crisis created by the war, which has pushed up prices for grain, cooking oil, fuel and fertilizer. Russia blames Western sanctions for the situation.
