If the fall of Izyum, in mid-September, sealed the reconquest of the entire Kharkiv region and opened a potential road to the Donbass, the resumption of Lyman, made official over the weekend by the Russian team itself, confirms the powerful advance of As increasing difficulties of Kiev and Moscow. It was Ukrainian President Zelensky himself, in the afternoon, who announced that Lyman had been “completely freed thanks to our army”. Unpredictable news until a few weeks ago, if you think that the city is located a few tens of kilometers from Severodonetsk, one of the bloodiest theaters of this conflict, which fell under Russian control, but where the Kremlin sacrificed thousands of soldiers to subdue the capital. . Severodonestk and even Lugansk, the capital of the self-proclaimed republic, could become Kiev’s next target. The situation on the ground has therefore turned completely upside down: after more than seven months of war, Moscow generally controls less territory than it had conquered in early March, and this despite at least 50,000 casualties among Russian units.
In Ukraine, however, they know very well that things can change quickly: firstly because at least 100,000 reservists would be ready to be sent by Putin to the Donbass front and to those in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Not only that: the annexation of the four regions could force the inhabitants of those areas to enlist in Moscow and that would further swell Russian ranks, while the specter of nuclear weapons, feared by Chechen leader Kadyrov and other Kremlin hawks, would represent the point of no return. In short: no triumphalism, either from Zelensky or his entourage, for the reconquest of the last few weeks, if anything, the increasingly pressing demand for rapid accession to NATO.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
