After taking Mariupol: Ukraine fears Russian advance

After Russian troops took Mariupol, Ukrainian officials expect further advances in Donbass. Russia wants to create a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014.

After Russian troops captured the port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials fear another Russian advance in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Donbass. There is already massive fighting, reports the military governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajdaj.

The city of Sievjerodonetsk, for example, has been under fire for days. “The Russians are wiping out Sieverodonetsk like Mariupol. Fighting is going on in the suburbs of the city,” Hajday said on the Telegram messenger service. There are dead and injured.

Zelenskyj: Several cities completely destroyed

“The attacks in Donbass continue,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his evening address on Friday. Several Ukrainian cities have already been completely destroyed, including Mariupol. Now the Russian army wants to treat Sieverodonetsk and other cities in the same way.

Hajday dismissed statements by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu that Russia was about to capture the Luhansk region. Shoigu has no overview of his own troops.

Land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula

In Luhansk, Ukrainian troops only control the cities of Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk. “Our troops are getting foreign weapons, rearming, moving into new positions – and I believe that we can counterattack in June,” Hajdaj said.

The Russian army wants complete control over Luhansk and Donetsk, the Ukrainian General Staff said. This should create a land corridor to the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014. From the Russian point of view, the fact that Mariupol has fallen under Russian control is an important partial success.

Mariupol under Russian control

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that more than 2,000 militants at the Azov steel plant in Mariupol had surrendered. They were the last remaining Ukrainian troops. The city is now completely under Russian control.

Russia has started clearing mines from the area around the port of Mariupol to make it usable again, according to the Ukrainian General Staff.

Before the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24, Russia had recognized the Luhansk and Donetsk regions as independent. Parts of the regions have been under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014.