Serhiy Gaidai, the designated head of the Lugansk regional military administration, announced on air of the Dom channel that Ukrainian forces had received orders to retreat from Severo Donetsk and take up new positions.
He said that “being in broken positions makes no sense,” as “the number of dead in unfortified territory can proportionally expand every day.”
In light of this decision, Gaidai stated, “our defenders who are there have already been given orders to retreat to other locations and to undertake routine full-fledged military operations from there.”
He continued by saying that Severo Donetsk’s infrastructure is entirely wrecked and that between 80% and 90% of the city’s homes have been damaged or destroyed.
In response, LPR Assistant Interior Minister Vitaly Kiselev stated yesterday that the Luhansk security forces will entirely block Lisichansk and SeveroDonetsk within a week. Later, Andriy Marochko, a lieutenant colonel in the People’s Militia, declared the start of the Ukrainian military’s capitulation.