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| President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Accuses Russia of Trying to Destroy Every City in Donbas |
International Military - Russia hopes to seize all of the eastern province of Luhansk, which demands Ukraine surrender Donetsk. The two provinces make up the Donbas region, where Moscow has supported an insurgency by separatist proxies since 2014.
To that end, the Kremlin has concentrated its forces into fierce fighting in Sievierodonetsk, which is in Luhansk. Ukrainian troops have been largely pulled out of residential areas of the city, but have not yet given their footing on the eastern bank of the Donets Siverskiy River.
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As Reuters reported on Saturday (11/6/2022), Russian troops also pushed from the north and south to try to encircle Ukraine, but made only limited progress. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was trying to "destroy every city in the Donbas." "Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk, Bakhmut, Sloviansk, many, many others," he said in his evening address.
"All these ruins used to be a happy city," Zelensky continued. Both sides say they have inflicted mass casualties. Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield report.
Zelenskiy's adviser Oleksiy Arestovych estimated the Russian army lost on average five to six times as many fighters as the Ukrainian side. Asked in a social media interview if that showed the Ukrainian army had lost up to 10,000 fighters in the first 100 days of the war, Arestovych said, "Yeah, something like that.".
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Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday strengthened Washington's commitment to the region in light of Russia's actions. "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is what happens when oppressors trample on the rules that protect us all," Austin said at an Asian security forum in Singapore.
"This is a preview of the possible chaotic, chaotic world none of us want." Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, saying the aim was to disarm and "denazify" Russia's neighbour. Kiev and its allies call it a war of unwarranted aggression to seize territory.
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