Day 133: Frontline stable, Russia restates maximalist invasion goals
Russia’s claim about the full capture of the Luhansk region appears to be premature, as Ukrainian forces are still repulsing Russian attacks at Bilohorivka, west of Lysychansk and within the Luhansk province, according to the Ukrainian General Staff’s Wednesday morning sitrep. Elsewhere on the northern Donbas front, on approaches to Slovyansk, Russian forces still failed to manage more than only marginal gains, as illustrated by today’s update from the UK Ministry of Defense: “Over the last week, Russian forces have likely advanced up to another 5 km down the E40 main road from Izyum [shown as black line running next to Slovyansk in map below], in the face of extremely determined Ukrainian resistance.” Still, according to local observers, the threat of Russian forces launching a much more massive offensive on Slovyansk, their next likely target in the battle of Donbas, remains imminent, having only been delayed by successful Ukrainian strikes on multiple Russian ammunition dumps in the area and Ukrainian forces’ continued pressure west of Izyum.