Russia launched an offensive to encircle the Ukrainian army in the east

Exactly three months after Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, authorities in the city of Kharkov plan to reopen the metro line, where thousands of civilians have sought shelter for months under the control of the Russian government. Russia’s relentless bombardment.

The reopening is symbolic of Ukraine’s biggest military success over the past few weeks. Ukrainian forces have pushed most of the Russian troops out of range of the Kharkov artillery, just as they did in the capital Kiev in March 2022.

But decisive battles in the latest phase of the conflict are still raging in the south, as Moscow tries to capture the Donbass region.

The cities of Sievierodonetsk on the east bank of the River Siverskiy Donets and Lysychansk on the west bank have become key battlegrounds in the Donbass, as Russian forces encircle them from three directions.

Serhiy Gaidai, Governor of Luhansk, announced: “Russian forces have concentrated their efforts on carrying out an offensive to encircle Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk.”

“The intensity of fire in Sievierodonetsk has increased many times over, the Russians are destroying the city,” he said on TV. He added that there are about 15,000 people in the city and that the Ukrainian army still controls it.

Reuters journalists in Donbass witnessed intense shelling on the highway towards Lysychansk on May 23. Ukrainian armored vehicles, tanks and missile launchers move towards the front lines, along with buses carrying soldiers.

Farther west in the city of Slovyansk, air raid sirens sounded on the morning of May 24, but the streets were still bustling. In a crowded market, children ride bicycles and a street musician plays violin by the supermarket. Two public buses escorted by police were running towards the city to evacuate civilians.

According to Gaidai, Ukrainian forces drove the Russian troops out of the village of Toshkivka in the south of Sievierodonetsk. This statement has not been independently verified. Four people were killed in an overnight shelling of a house in Sievierodonetsk.

The battle took place in the context of the surrender of the Ukrainian army at the port of Mariupol after nearly 3 months of siege. Russia currently controls eastern and southern Ukraine, but has yet to achieve its goal of capturing all of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Russia’s three-month special military operation, the largest attack on a European country since 1945, has displaced more than 6.5 million Ukrainians, turning many cities into cities. wreckage and prompting the West to introduce severe economic sanctions against Moscow.