Lysychansk captured, Moscow claims; Kyiv says Donbas fight ‘not over’

The city is a key target in Russia’s battle to capture the Donbas region, an area at its border with Ukraine that is rife with separatists loyal to Moscow who in 2014 unilaterally established independent provinces that Russian President Vladimir Putin cited as justification for his invasion. Ukraine had been furiously defending it for weeks, and a Ukrainian presidential adviser had said its fate could be determined in the coming days.

Why is Ukraine’s Donbas region a target for Russian forces?

Kyiv did not confirm Russia’s capture of Lysychansk, and a Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman told the BBC on Sunday that the city was not under Russia’s “full control.”

But Yuriy Sak acknowledged that Ukrainian forces could retreat from parts of the city amid “very intense” Russian attacks. “For Ukrainians, the value of human life is a top priority, so sometimes we may retreat from certain areas so that we can retake them in the future,” Sak told the broadcaster.

Ukrainian troops withdrew from Severodonetsk, a neighboring city across a river to the east, just over a week ago. Russia’s capture of Lysychansk, if confirmed, would be a major victory that gives its troops clear access to Donetsk, the other region that makes up Donbas.

Ukraine retreats from Severodonetsk as Russia advances in the east

Control over Donbas is the primary goal of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, after it failed to capture the capital, Kyiv, and other areas in the initial weeks of the war. Russian troops and their allies have been making steady gains in the east, as officials in Kyiv say they are outgunned and running out of ammunition.

Sak told the BBC that Ukraine controlled other cities in Donetsk and argued that “the battle for the Donbas is not over yet.”

Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said earlier in the day that Russian fighters had attacked Lysychansk and used tactics even more brutal than in Severodonetsk to overcome resistance there. Photos showed bombed-out residential buildings in Lysychansk early Sunday, amid a barrage reminiscent of the destruction of Severodonetsk that preceded Russia’s capture of that city.

A Russian-backed politician said Saturday that Lysychansk was “completely surrounded,” which Ukraine disputed.

But Ukrainian counterclaims were probably “outdated or erroneous,” according to an analysis from the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank, which cited unconfirmed videos showing Russian forces erecting a red “victory” flag in Lysychansk and “casually walking around” its neighborhoods.

“Ukrainian forces likely conducted a deliberate withdrawal from Lysychansk, resulting in the Russian seizure of the city on July 2,” it said.