Russian Forces Capture Sieverodonetsk City in Eastern Ukraine: Lysychansk City Expected to be Captured Next

On June 25 the Russian Military secured the eastern Ukrainian city of Sieverodonetsk, which had been a central focus of the Russian campaign since the beginning of the month and saw the Ukrainian Army and affiliated paramilitaries take heavy losses in a brief siege. Ukrainian units had been entrenched in industrial areas much as they had been in the city of Mariupol further south, but were ordered to withdraw on June 24. It is expected that the nearby city of Lysychansk, which is the last major city in the Luhansk region still under Kiev’s control, will be the next to see Ukrainian forces evicted. 

Ukrainian government sources reported that as the city changed hands on June 25, the Russian Military launched sizeable strikes including the launch of a dozen air launched cruise missiles from Belarusian airspace and further missile strikes from the sea and land from Russian territory itself. Belarus notably hosted an expanded Russian military presence just weeks before the Russian-Ukrainian War commenced, and Russian S-400 air defence systems based there have reportedly been used to neutralise Ukrainian fighter aircraft deep into the country’s airspace. As Russian forces remain focused on making gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas regions, whether very large shipments of Western armaments will be able to significantly slow its advances remains to be seen.