Luhansk is facing its most difficult time since the conflict with Russian-backed separatists began in 2014, according to Gov. Serhi Hajdaj.
“The Russians are advancing in all directions at the same time,” he writes on Facebook.
Russia’s advance in the eastern part of Ukraine, the so-called Donbass, is putting pressure on Ukrainian forces.
– The situation in Donbass is very difficult now. In principle, the entire military force of the Russian army, what they now have left, is thrown into the offensive there. Liman, Popasna, Sevierodonetsk, Slovyansk – the occupiers want to destroy everything there, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech late Tuesday night.
He says tens of thousands of Ukrainians have died during the war, but that nearly 30,000 Russian soldiers have been killed.
He also warns that it will take time and effort on the part of the people of Ukraine to overcome Russia’s advantage in equipment and weapons.
Serhiy Hajdaj, governor of Luhansk, which together with Donetsk forms Donbass, describes the situation as getting worse.
“Luhansk is facing its most difficult time during eight years of conflict,” he writes in a post on social media.
“It’s only getting worse”
Hajdaj writes that the Russians are advancing in all directions, and that they have brought with them an insane number of combatants and equipment, and accuse Moscow’s forces of using the tactics of the scorched earth.
“It just gets worse. What racists do is difficult to describe in words. The orcs are killing our cities, destroying everything around ”.
He describes that the situation is becoming critical.
“The free Luhansk region is like Mariupol,” he continues.
Ukrainian forces often disparage Russian soldiers as orcs, the monstrous enemies of Tolkien’s fantasy world.
Analysts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say that Russian forces in recent weeks have secured more terrain than before in May.
“But they have done so by reducing the scope of their goals – largely by abandoning efforts around Izium and concentrating on key cities along the front line,” the think tank wrote in its latest update.
Attacks elsewhere
However, the Russian attacks also continue northwest of Donbass. Ukrainian military reports that border guards in the northeastern Sumy region have been shelled, probably with artillery from Russian territory.
There is no information that anyone has been injured.
Russia also continues to bomb around the city of Kharkiv, despite the withdrawal of Russian forces from the area last week. Among other things, the city of Derhatji is said to have met, and a 69-year-old woman has died, according to the regional government.