Russian forces liberate Zolotarivka, advance in Lysychansk
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The Russian Defense Ministry announces the liberation of the village of Zolotarivka and holing up more than 2,000 nationalist Ukrainian fighters and foreign mercenaries.
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Russian forces liberate Zolotarivka, advance in Lysychansk
The Russian armed forces have liberated Zolotarivka, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday, and all that is left is Bilogorivka, which is located six kilometers from the surrounded city of Lysychansk.
"Over the past three days, [the Russian Armed Forces] have taken control of the oil rig in Lysychansk, the Matrosskaya mine, and the village of Topolivka," the ministry said.
The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, said on Saturday that Lysychansk, the last Kiev-controlled city of the Lugansk region, is completely surrounded by the allied forces of Russia and the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR).
"The trap has closed, Lysychansk is completely surrounded by allied troops," Kadyrov wrote on Telegram, adding that all entrances and exits from the city have been blocked.
"The plan to liberate Lysychansk from the Ukrainian invaders, which was developed by officers, is being executed without adjustments. In the near future, the city will be fully liberated from the Bandera Nazis," he added. "A full-scale attack on the city would soon begin," Kadyrov noted.
"More than 2,000 Nazis from Kiev's forces and foreign mercenaries are holed up in Lysychansk, their last stronghold in Lugansk," LPR deputy interior minister Vitaly Kiselev said.
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Map revealing the Russian allied forces advance (Rybar telegram channel)
Ukraine MiG-29 aircraft, 19 UAVs downed
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Saturday that Kiev's forces were sustaining major losses on all fronts, revealing that a MiG-29 aircraft was downed over Mykolaiv in addition to 19 UAVs over several regions.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov told reporters that three battalions stationed near Lysychansk lost over 50% of their troops in one day of combat.
In Artemivsk, the Russian air force struck with high precision weapons a temporary storage facility in Kharkov, liquidating 30 individuals and 10 vehicles.
The Russian air force also destroyed four factions of air defenses that Kiev was using to strike the Donetsk People's Republic.
Kiev's forces last week had been forced to retreat from Severodonetsk, a regional governor said, with the aim of setting up camp at the neighboring city of Lysychansk.
Severodonetsk is home to the Azot chemical plant, where the Russian armed forces had hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers holed up for weeks in light of the confrontations in the area. The plant also had up to 500 civilians who had been hiding from shelling in its bomb shelter, and despite the site having more civilians than Ukrainian soldiers, they were concentrated in other parts of Azot.
If Russia were to push into Lysychansk and take control of the city, the Russian and pro-Russian forces would have full control of the LPR and allow them to take push further into the Donbass region.
Ukraine said earlier that the Russian armed forces made major advances in Donbass, taking control of Toshkiva, a village that lies between the two cities of Severdonetsk and Lysychansk on the frontline between Kiev's and Moscow's forces.
The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, separated by a river, are the final sections of Lugansk still under Ukrainian control. Now, only Lysychansk remains under Ukrainian control.
