Russia gains ground in its offensive in eastern Ukraine

Russia is gaining ground in Donbas, the main battlefront in Ukraine.

Aided by the Russian Armed Forces, the pro-Russian separatists have taken the town of Liman, an important railway hub in the Donetsk region, and advanced towards the city of Kramatorsk, as reported through the Telegram social network.

kyiv recognizes that the invading troops are improving their positions with their offensive, aimed at fully controlling the Donbas area.

It is not the only front on which tension is growing.

In recent hours, there have also been bombings on Kharkov or Dnipro, where the impact of a missile on the National Guard barracks has caused at least ten deaths and 30 injuries, according to Ukrainian military sources cited by the

portal. .

Kremlin forces keep two-thirds of Severodonetsk surrounded, according to the head of the city's military authority, Oleksandr Striuk, Radio Svoboda reports.

It is the main town of Donbas in Ukrainian hands and its urban area is 90% destroyed.

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The kyiv authorities admit advances of the enemy in the disputed region.

"We have lost Lyman's position," acknowledged Oleksiy Arestovich, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodímir Zelenski, in an interview published on social networks and quoted by the Reuters agency.

"This shows, in principle, the increased level of operational management and tactical skills of the Russian army," he noted.

This Thursday, the pro-Russian separatists had already circulated a video in which both their flag and the Russian one appear waving at the headquarters of the local authority there.

“There are especially intense battles in the direction of Liman.

Most of Liman is not controlled by the Ukrainian army," acknowledges the head of the military authority of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, in statements to the local media

.

Liman is in a strategic place for Moscow's plans.

It is about half a hundred kilometers from Severodotesk and Lisichan, where the Russians seek to encircle the Ukrainians and on the route they intend to advance towards Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Moscow is making its biggest military gains in eastern Ukraine, having failed to take kyiv and Kharkov, the two main cities, and gained control of Mariupol after weeks of intense fighting.

These conquests and the lack of results in the contacts in the peace negotiations distance the possibility that the war will come to an end soon, as the kyiv authorities themselves acknowledge.

“palpable” advances

Also outside of Ukraine the loss of ground is admitted.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged that Russia is making "palpable" progress in Donbas, albeit "gradually" and "slowly", and has called for more weapons for kyiv.

"It is absolutely vital that we continue to support the Ukrainians militarily," he added.

Johnson's wake-up call coincides with a new warning cry launched by the president of Ukraine.

Zelensky assures that Russia is committing "genocide" in this region, at war since 2014 between forces loyal to kyiv and separatists, who are now supported by Russian troops.

The objective of the separatists is that Moscow ends up having the

as in the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed eight years ago.

A dozen civilians have died in recent hours in the large Donbas region, which brings together the

(administrative units) of Donetsk and Lugansk, according to local authorities, who do not report military casualties.

The total number of civilians who have already lost their lives, according to the UN count, is 4,031.

kyiv, yes, already raises the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war to 29,750, a figure not confirmed independently.

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