“The battle for Donbas is not over yet,” a spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense told the BBC
Reply to Moscow’s reports that the entire area of Luhansk “liberated” and that Russian military forces are in full control of it Lisitsansk gave Kyiv. The representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Yuri Sak, told the BBC that the strategically important city of Lisitsansk is not entirely under Russian control.
He admitted, however, that the situation is difficult, and Russian forces attack the city non-stop. “For Ukrainians, the value of human life is a top priority, so sometimes we may retreat from certain areas to be able to regain them in the future,” he added.
He also noted that even if Russia takes all of Luhansk, that does not mean “the game is lost.” for Donbass. He noted that there are large areas in the Donbass, and especially in Donetsk, that are controlled by Ukrainian forces. There are “other large cities in the Donbas region, especially in the Donetsk region” that are under the control of the Ukrainian armed forces, the Ukrainian official said.
Over the past 24 hours, #Russian occupiers have carried out 24 strikes in the #Donetsk region and shelled 18 settlements.
According to the National Police of #Ukraine, 31 civilian objects were destroyed. Civilians were killed and wounded. pic.twitter.com/XZ72hw1RrJ
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 3, 2022
“These are cities that in the last two days [υπήρξαν] targets of serious missile attacks, artillery bombardments,” he said, “but the battle for Donbass is not over yet,” he repeated.
Shak added that Ukraine is optimistic and receiving support from its Western allies.
He expressed optimism that Ukraine would eventually amass a sufficient number of heavy artillery and other types of weapons “that will allow us to liberate our territories.”
According to the Ukrainian authorities, in the last 24 hours the Russians carried out 24 strikes in the Donetsk region and bombed 18 settlements. According to Ukrainian police, 31 civilian targets were destroyed, while civilians were killed and injured.
By RGloucester – Work of this uploader, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38891784
“Luhansk has been liberated”
The Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier informed President Vladimir Putin that the entire Luhansk region has been “liberated” from Russian forces, as well as separatist forces, as the Ministry of Defense in Moscow announced today.
After the first attempt to capture Kiev failed, Russia focused its efforts on expelling Ukrainian military forces from the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting of Kiev, since the first Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
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