On Tuesday, Russia started its hard, all-out attack on east Ukraine, taking its first town after unleashing thousands of soldiers in what Ukraine has dubbed the “Battle of the Donbas,” a battle to seize two provinces.
Leaders in Ukraine say that their troops will be able to fight off the current Russian attack, which they say began last night with huge Russian artillery and rocket barrages and attempts to push over almost the whole eastern front.
Ukraine said the Russians had taken Kreminna, a frontline town of 18,000 people in Luhansk, one of the two Donbas provinces. This was the first major reported victory of Russia’s new offensive, and it was reported by Ukraine.
According to the Luhansk regional governor, Serhiy Gaidai, Russian soldiers were attacking from all sides, officials were attempting to evacuate residents, and tallying civilian deaths was difficult.
Although Moscow provided little information about its current effort, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that another stage of this operation is beginning. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says that Moscow is going about its plan to free Donetsk and Luhansk, two regions that Moscow wants Kyiv to give over to Russian-backed rebels.
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In the wreckage of Mariupol, a southern port devastated after almost eight weeks of siege, Russia issued an ultimatum to the remaining Ukrainian defenders holed up in a massive steelworks: surrender by noon (0900 GMT) or die.
The defense ministry declared that “all who lay down their arms are guaranteed to remain alive,” later adding that a path had been established for those who surrendered to depart. A Chechen pro-Kremlin warlord, whose men are battling in Mariupol, said soldiers will take the plant on Tuesday.
In a video speech delivered overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy assured Ukrainians that they would repel the latest assault.
Shells hit Kharkiv along supply routes for Russian troops pushing into Donbass. In Ukraine’s largest eastern city, one residential building was demolished and another was damaged. In Russia, the governor of Belgorod’s border region reported that Ukrainian soldiers attacked a settlement, injuring three inhabitants. Ukraine has a sizable army defending the northern Donbass, and military analysts believe Russia is attempting to isolate or encircle them. Russia may now anticipate a more traditional battle of forces in the Donbass, favoring its superior weaponry.
However, Russia must continue to supply its forces over kilometers of hostile country, despite the difficulties of going off road in muddy terrain. Ukraine has started counterattacks near Kharkiv, allegedly to cut off supply routes. Russia says it doesn’t want to kill people as part of what it calls a “special operation” to get Ukraine to stop being armed.
Brown Stone contributed reporting, and MarkAnthony Nze, Ph.D. edited the piece for Africa Today News, New York.