Russia Claims Control Of Lugansk Region, President Zelensky Promises To Retake Lysychansk With The Help Of Western

President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday pledged to retake control of Lysychansk with the help of Western weapons, as Ukrainian troops withdraw from the region following an offensive by Russian troops.

Russia says the seizure of the city of Lysychansk less than a week after taking neighboring Sievierdonetsk gave it complete control of the eastern Luhansk region, a political victory that served the Kremlin's main war goals. The focus of the battlefield is now shifting to the nearby Donetsk region, where Kyiv still controls most of the territory.

"If the commanders of our army pull people from certain points in the front, where the enemy has the greatest firepower advantage, and this also applies to Lysychansk, it means only one thing," President Zelensky said in his evening video address, as reported by Reuters, July 4th.

"That we will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to an increased supply of modern weapons," promised President Zelensky.

President Zelensky further said Russia was concentrating its firepower on the Donbas front, but Ukraine would retaliate with long-range weapons such as the US-supplied HIMARS rocket launcher.

"The fact that we protect the lives of our soldiers, our people, plays an equally important role. We will rebuild the walls, we will win back the land, and the people must be protected above all else," said President Zelensky.

Illustration of the impact of the Russian attack. (Wikimedia Commons/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

Since abandoning an offensive in the capital Kyiv, Russia has concentrated its military operations in the Donbas industrial heartland of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, where Moscow-backed separatist proxies have been battling Ukraine since 2014.

Russia says it is seizing the Lugansk region to give it to the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, whose independence was recognized shortly before the invasion began.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin that Lugansk had been "liberated", the defense ministry said, after Russia earlier said its troops had captured villages around Lysychansk and surrounded the city.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's military command said its troops had been forced to withdraw from the city, explaining the steps taken.

"The continued defense of the city will have fatal consequences. In order to save the lives of the Ukrainian fighters, the decision was made to withdraw," the military said in a statement on social media.

Ukrainian officials, who say references to 'liberating' Ukrainian territory are Russian propaganda, have reported intense artillery barrages in residential areas.

Thousands of civilians have been killed and cities razed since Russia invaded on February 24, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians. Moscow denies it.

Russia says what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine aimed at protecting Russian-speakers from nationalists. Ukraine and its Western allies say this is a baseless pretext for flagrant aggression aimed at seizing territory.