Russia Gains More Ground in Donbas Region as Desperate Zelenskyy Arranges Emergency Meeting with France, Germany, Italy

The constant and strategic pressure by Russian military in eastern Ukraine is slowly and methodically taking more ground each day.  Russian troops have now encircled and captured the city of Severodonetsk, which will join Lysychansk under full Russian control within days, according to the Washington Post.

Ukraine forces are running out of supplies as the U.S. State Dept. tries to organize the battle formations on behalf of U.S. interests in the country.  The Russian advances are slow, methodical and very deliberate.  The Ukraine military is losing ground and Zelenskyy is calling for more western help urgently.

LVIV, Ukraine—The leaders of France, Germany and Italy plan to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv this week, officials said, as reports showed Russia making gains in the country’s east and Ukrainian officials urgently sought arms from Western nations to hold Russian forces at bay.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi were planning to visit the Ukrainian capital on Thursday, said two European officials, who cautioned that plans could yet change. The trip would be the first to Ukraine since the beginning of the war for the three Western leaders.

News of the planned meeting came as Ukrainian officials said Russia had made fresh gains in its efforts to encircle and capture the city of Severodonetsk, which would bring Moscow significantly closer to its goal of controlling the Donbas area in the country’s east, its foremost target recently in the war.

Serhiy Haidai, the Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region, which includes Severodonetsk, said on Sunday that Russians had destroyed a second bridge connecting Severodonetsk to Lysychansk, a Ukrainian stronghold just across the Siverskyi Donets river. Russian forces also shelled a chemical plant in the city’s industrial section, where civilians had taken shelter in bunkers, Mr. Haidai said.

The battlefield advances were the latest evidence that Russia is outgunning Ukrainian forces, using its superior artillery power to steadily take territory. Its gains have thrown added focus onto Ukraine’s pleas for more powerful and longer-range artillery and other weaponry from the West, as well as on Ukraine’s lack of capacity to manufacture ammunition for the Soviet-era heavy weapons in its arsenal. (read more)