Kyiv: Ukrainian Forces do not intend to withdraw from Lysychansk
Units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not plan to leave Lysychansk, said on Thursday, June 30, Deputy Head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Brigadier Okeksiy Gromov.
"At this time, there are no plans for withdrawal of the units that defend Lysychansk. Defensive operations of the city continue. In the morning, the enemy also began attacks on our defenders from different directions. Our troops are carrying out their tasks. The battle continues. As of now, the enemy has no success," Gromov said.
Gromov also spoke about the situation in the Kharkiv region.
"At the moment, we are not observing or anticipating the opening of the second front on the Kharkiv axis," he said.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry does not rule out such a possibility.
"We do not rule out this possibility. We are watching the enemy, its actions, its shelling. It shells certain settlements, certain areas. We understand that in this way it is trying to probe our defenses, to detect weaknesses, possible directions of attacks of its troops, including the so-called training of its artillery units in combat conditions. It’s possible that they rotate their units. As it was in 2014, they train on us," Gromov said.
The head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, Sergiy Haidai, said that Russian troops are simply destroying Lysychansk. There is so much destruction in the city that it’s not even possible to count the destroyed houses.