Russia struggles in its offensive in the Donbass but does not give up.
More than a month after declaring this region as its main target, Moscow has recorded only marginal gains.
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All weekend, intense strikes hit Sieverodonetsk.
This industrial city, which had 100,000 inhabitants before the war, seems to be the first target of the Russian forces: an accessible goal according to many experts, while they are looking for a quick victory.
The governor of Luhansk reported the bombardment of a hospital in Sieverodonetsk on Sunday, which left two dead and nine injured and the Ukrainian command claimed to have repelled 17 attacks on the same day.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich assured that the Russians were transferring troops from the Kharkiv region to the Luhansk region, in order to take Sieverodonetsk and beyond Sloviansk.
Russian maneuvers to encircle the city were noted.
They could open around the end of May, according to American sources,
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The Russian strategy is therefore clearly revised downwards.
The vast movement of encirclement of all Donbass, which starts from Izyoum in the north and from Donetsk in the south, a time considered as the objective of Moscow, seems for the moment inaccessible.
“
Russian forces have captured a pocket 15 km west and 20 km south of Izyum.
They seem to mark a stop in this area, renouncing to seize the key point of Barvinkove”
, thus analyzes the former French colonel Michel Goya on Twitter.
“Russian forces have probably abandoned this objective of broad encirclement in favor of capturing the rest of the Luhansk region, of which Sieverodonetsk is a part
,” also estimates the American Institute for War Studies (ISW).
“Russian forces are likely short of combat-ready reserves, forcing the military command to amalgamate soldiers from different elements, including mercenaries and auxiliaries.”
The 227th battalion of the 127th brigade of the territorial defense of the armed forces expelled the Russians and settled on the border
Ukrainian ministry
The Ukrainians, for their part, continued their reconquest of the Kharkiv region, now beyond the reach of Russian guns.
According to kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers even reached the border with Russia, 50 kilometers away.
"The 227th Battalion of the 127th Territorial Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces expelled the Russians and settled on the border,"
the ministry said, posting a video of soldiers planting a "border post" painted yellow and blue.
For Konrad Muzyka, the director of the Polish research center Rochan Consulting, this is not a surprise.
“It's symbolic communication.
The Ukrainians have been on the border for several days.”
On the other hand, like other specialists, he doubts the capacity of the Ukrainians to lead counter-attacks on other fronts.
"Make no mistake, the Russians still have a vast superiority in the field of artillery"
.
And the material support of NATO is not able, in the short term, to fill the gap.
Kyiv, however, received another indirect support from Sweden.
Stockholm applied for NATO membership on Monday, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said, referring to a
"new era"
for the Scandinavian country after more than two centuries out of military alliances.
This announcement comes the day after that of Finland.
The two countries have already announced their desire to apply simultaneously.
At a summit of a regional military alliance in the Kremlin on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Finland and Sweden's membership in NATO did not constitute
"an immediate threat"
to the Russia.
"But the deployment of military infrastructure on the territories of these countries will of course lead to a response"
, did he declare.