Reid Standish
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, June 9, 2022
“…it’s actually unclear to me if the Russians will even be able to capture all of Luhansk Oblast.”
Ukrainian forces are finding it hard to stave off Russian attacks in the center of the key battleground of Syevyerodonetsk, but Moscow still does not control the eastern city, regional officials say.
Syevyerodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk, which lies across the Siverskiy Donets River, are strategically important in the Kremlin’s bid to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and the unfolding fight, which has already seen Russian troops take control of large portions of Syevyerodonetsk, could have an outsized influence on the next phase of the war.
Meanwhile, the flow of Western weapons to Kyiv continues, but Ukrainian officials have warned that greater and sustained quantities of equipment and aid are needed if they are to wield an advantage over Russian forces.
The United States and Britain recently announced plans to provide Kyiv with multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), which can hit targets up to 80 kilometers away. Washington is also sending four M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and London has agreed to send an unspecified number of M270 launch systems.
Reid Standish is an RFE/RL correspondent in Prague and author of the China In Eurasia briefing. He focuses on Chinese foreign policy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has reported extensively about China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Beijing’s internment camps in Xinjiang. Prior to joining RFE/RL, Reid was an editor at Foreign Policy magazine and its Moscow correspondent. He has also written for The Atlantic and The Washington Post.
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