Two people were killed in an attack by Russia on a Ukrainian market. Residents were told to evacuate Slovyansk, Ukraine’s eastern city.
As Russian forces advanced from the north, civilians boarded minibuses Wednesday morning.
According to UK defense intelligence, there is a real possibility that the fight for Slovyansk will be the next crucial battle in the fight for the Donbas.
It stated that Russian forces would likely be 16km (10 mi) north of the city.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsk governor, said that the Russians had made the whole region of Donetsk a hotspot and it was now dangerous for civilians to stay. He posted the following message on social media: “I urge everyone to evacuate. Evacuation saves lives.”
After a failed attempt to seize Kyiv, Russia turned its attention to Ukraine’s eastern Donbas in March. It has now taken over Luhansk, which is to the north and south of Slovyansk and is pushing for the rest of Donetsk. Donetsk and Luhansk are part of the industrial Donbas.
Russian commentators claimed that the fall of Luhansk’s last city had opened the way to a move towards the west and south.
Serhiy Haidai in Ukraine, the regional chief for Luhansk said that the military continues to defeat Russian forces at the border with Donetsk. This is especially around the main road linking Lysychansk and Bakhmut.
Vladislav Shurygin, a Russian military expert, told Izvestia that clearing mines would take several days. However, the next large-scale battles for Slovyansk or neighbouring Kramatorsk would be the next big ones. He also suggested pushing Ukrainian forces out range of Donetsk.
Slovyansk was captured by Russian-backed forces in the first war, which erupted in 2014. It was then recaptured two months later. Residents recalled the anniversary of the army’s victory on Tuesday. Russian artillery bombarded the city setting fire to the market.
Local leaders reported that a civilian was killed in a Russian missile strike early Wednesday morning on a cafe in southern Mykolaiv. A security guard was also killed in Kharkiv, north when a university building was attacked overnight.
Micheal Martin, the Irish leader, visited several towns around Kyiv that had been severely damaged by Russia’s bombardment on Wednesday. The Taoiseach also visited Bucha’s mass grave, where many people had been killed.
Even though Russian forces pulled back around Kyiv after a month, the chief of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev reiterated that the Kremlin still has the main goal to replace Ukraine’s leaders as well as capture large swathes of its territory.
He was a close ally to the Russian leader and repeated President Vladimir Putin’s earlier claims of de-Nazifying and demilitarizing Ukraine. He said that these goals could be achieved even with Western military aid to Kyiv.
In fact, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Ziensky is not connected to the far right. He is a comedian who was democratically elected and is ethnically Jewish.
In a French documentary, last week, a nine-minute conversation in which Putin told President Emmanuel Macron that President Zelensky wasn’t democratically elected was a measure of his thinking at the time. He said that he was elected during a bloodbath in which many people were killed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated Wednesday that broadcasting the conference was a violation of diplomatic etiquette. However, Russia has nothing to be ashamed.
