The Russian occupation governor of Ukraine‘s eastern Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, claimed that the territory had been entirely conquered on Tuesday, making it the first of the four eastern Ukrainian regions Russia has annexed that it fully controls.
“Just a couple of days ago, I received a report that the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic has been 100 percent liberated,” Pasechnik told Russia’s TV Channel One. However, not everyone agreed, with Russian military reporters saying two villages remained free.
Despite the uncertainty, Russian forces have inched towards reconquering the entire territory in the intervening 33 months, and that constitutes a second milestone within the past month on Ukraine’s eastern front. Russia’s advance dealt another blow to Ukraine, more than three years after the full-scale invasion began.
On the same day as Pasechnik’s announcement, the United States said it would not be sending Kyiv some weapons that had been promised by the administration of Joe Biden, the former US president. “This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,” said the White House.
The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed its forces had taken several villages in Donetsk, including Zaporizhzhia, Perebudova, Shevchenko, and Yalta. Through such small but constant conquests, Russia has given its offensive in Ukraine an inexorable feeling.
Russian officials have been talking about creating a buffer zone between Russia and Ukraine on Ukrainian territory. Igor Korotchenko, the editor of National Defense magazine, told TASS that the Russian armed forces are now tasked to continue operations to establish a buffer zone, which should stretch at least 70 to 120 kilometres deep inside Ukraine.
However, the concept of a buffer zone has been floated before, with deputy chairman of Russia’s National Security Council Dmitry Medvedev saying last March that “if military aid to the regime of bandits continues”, referring to Kyiv, “the buffer zone could look like this” – and he posted a map on his Telegram channel, showing almost all of Ukraine shaded.
Despite the Russian advances, Ukraine continued to score tactical successes of its own inside Russia, using long-range weapons. On Friday and Saturday, June 27-28, Ukrainian drones struck the Kirovske airfield, destroying at least three attack helicopters. Ukraine’s General Staff also said an aerial attack had destroyed at least four Sukhoi-34 fighters at Russia’s Marinovka airbase.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was withdrawing from the Ottawa Treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, allowing Ukraine to manufacture, stockpile, and use such mines to defend itself. “Antipersonnel mines … very often have no alternative as a tool for defence,” Zelenskyy said.
The increase in scale and intensity of Russian unmanned air attacks this year, and particularly since bilateral talks between the warring sides resumed in May, have led Ukrainian military experts to conclude that Moscow is marking Ukrainian territory it intends to launch a ground war against.
Zelenskyy said the priority is drones, interceptor drones, and long-range strike drones. “The scale of our production and the pace of drone development must be fully aligned with the conditions of the war,” he said.