On Monday this week, Ukrainian forces hurriedly left their positions in and around the city of Svitlodarsk in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. The next day, photos from the same city were posted on social media. They showed soldiers from the Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas in the streets of Svitlodarsk. At the same time, the Ukrainian flag was exchanged for the Russian flag on the city’s administration building. Soldiers from the Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas photographed on the street in Svitlodarsk on 25 May. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Ukrainian authorities: We were about to be surrounded The head of the military administration in Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, told the website Donbas. Realii that it was very difficult to defend Svitlodarsk. This is because the city was in practice surrounded by Russian forces on three sides. Therefore, the decision was made to leave the city with around 10,000 inhabitants. This drone image will show an abandoned Ukrainian position on the outskirts of Svitlodarsk. Photo: PAVEL KLIMOV / Reuters The city is built around the giant coal-fired power plant Vuhlehirska Power Station. This too is now under the control of the Russian forces. No major damage was reported in the city after the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces. Big victory for Russia But many houses in Svitlodarsk have had their windows blown in during the fighting that has erupted since Russia’s attack on Ukraine on 24 February. The attack was also backed by Russian-backed separatists in the People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. The city also suffered major damage during previous matches in the area in the period from 2014 to 2016. This has been confirmed by NRK during previous visits to the city. This is what it looks like inside one of the divisions of the hospital in Svitlodarsk, after it was hit during the fighting in 2015. Photo: Lokman Ghorbani / NRK The conquest of Svitlodarsk is the biggest victory for the Russian forces during the three-month offensive in Ukraine. The toughest fighting so far during the war – The fighting now is the most intense that has been, said Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maljar at a press conference on Thursday. – We also have a long period of matches ahead of us. What is happening now shows that Ukraine is in danger of losing control of large parts of the eastern part of the country. The Russian forces have also displayed equipment, including anti-tank weapons, which the Ukrainian forces left behind as they left the areas around Svitlodarsk. These are supposed to be anti-tank weapons of the AT4 type that the Ukrainian forces left behind when they left the area around Svitlodarsk. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Fear in Svitlodarsk for a long time When NRK visited Svitlodarsk in January this year, people in the city were aware that they were exposed if there was to be a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine. “We will be leveled,” the director of the city hospital, Gennady Gurzhij, told NRK at the time. Ukrainian doctor: – If there is a war, our city will be razed to the ground NRK has since had contact with people in the hospital. They tell of months of shooting and bombing where they have had to spend long periods in bomb shelters. After the Russian forces took control of Svitlodarsk, NRK has not received messages from our sources in the now occupied city. Everything calm? But on the surface, everything seems calm in Svitlodarsk. However, the photos sent by the international news agency Reuters were taken by a photographer who probably operated with the Russian-backed separatist forces. This drone photo taken on May 25 shows that Svitlodarsk has so far come relatively easily from the war in eastern Ukraine. Photo: PAVEL KLIMOV / Reuters The pro-Russian separatist leader Denis Pushilin in the so-called People’s Republic of Donetsk has called for a referendum on Donetsk and Luhansk counties becoming part of Russia. Russia has also started sending mass passports of Russian passports to anyone wishing to become a Russian citizen in the territories they have occupied by Ukraine. Svitlodarsk is located in the part of the Donbas where the Russian forces have made great progress in the last week. Is Russia approaching a partial victory? The Finnish researcher and war historian Emil Kastehelmi, who daily updates the military situation in Ukraine, believes that there are many indications that Russia is now approaching a partial victory during the battles over Donetsk and Luhansk counties. Kastehelmi regularly publishes detailed maps of the situation on the ground in Ukraine. They show, among other things, that there are only tens of kilometers that prevent the Russian forces from surrounding the Ukrainian city of Lychyansk and Sievjerodonetsk, which will ensure them full control over Luhansk Oblast. This dramatic image of a grenade strike on the road from Bakhmut to Lysychansk has been sent out by the news agency AFP. Photo: ARIS MESSINIS / AFP At the same time, the Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butusov writes on his Facebook pages that the Ukrainian forces in most places manage to hold their positions, and that the important road from the city of Bakhmut to Lysychansk is still open to heavier vehicles. But this road, according to Butusov, is exposed to constant firing from the positions of the Russian forces in the east and south.
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Big city conquered by Russia in the Donbas – the Ukrainian forces on the defensive – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
