Ukraine to leave devastated city

Russians move to take full control of Luhansk region

After weeks of bloody street fighting and months of withering artillery fire, Ukrainian forces will withdraw from Sievierodonetsk, a city that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once said would determine the “fate” of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

The retreat from the devastated industrial city on the east bank of the Siversky Donets River was confirmed Friday by Serhiy Haidai, the head of the military administration in Luhansk. It represents the most significant loss for the Ukrainian military since Russian forces seized Mariupol a month ago after a similarly brutal campaign of heavy shelling and street fighting left that southern port in ruins.

It means the Russian military can now concentrate fully on taking control of Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk’s twin city on the west bank of the river and the last city in the Luhansk region still under Ukrainian control. Analysts expect that the Russians will then set their sights on seizing the remnant of the Donetsk region still held by Ukrainian forces, which would complete their conquest of Donbas.

For now, the battle is far from over, and the fight for what has come to be known as the Sievierodonetsk pocket, a slice of territory now roughly 15 miles wide and threefourths surrounded by Russian forces, has entered a new phase as Russian troops move to encircle Lysychansk.

“Our colleagues are holding on,” said Oleg, a Ukrainian tank crew member whose captured Russian T-80 had pulled off the front for repairs, its dark-green hull now repainted with the Ukrainian flag. “They are repelling the enemy’s onslaught and holding the defense.”

Haidai said it did not make sense for Ukraine to hold on to what he described as broken positions in Sievierodonetsk. About 90 percent of the city’s buildings have been destroyed, according to Ukraine. Only 8,000 civilians remain out of a prewar population of 160,000.