Global News published this video item, entitled “Ukrainian retreat from besieged eastern city seen as significant victory for Russia” – below is their description.
For weeks, Ukrainian forces have fought to hold onto a besieged eastern city, but now Kyiv has ordered its troops to withdraw from Sievierodonetsk.
The retreat is a significant victory for Russia as it aims to gain control of the entire Donbas region.
Russia’s defence ministry also said on Friday it had encircled up to 2,000 Ukrainian troops, including 80 foreign fighters, at Hirske. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
In its daily briefing on Friday, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had “completely isolated” a group of Ukrainian units near Hirske and Zolote. It said it had encircled four Ukrainian battalions, an artillery group and a “detachment of foreign mercenaries.”
The Donbas or Donbass is a historical, cultural, and economic region in south-eastern Ukraine, and bordering Russia.
In March 2014, following the Euromaidan and 2014 Ukrainian revolution, the Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics” took control of areas within the region with support from Russia. Russia recognised their independence in February 2022. No other country recognises the independence of the areas.
Before the war, the city of Donetsk (then the fifth largest city in Ukraine) had been considered the unofficial capital of the Donbas. Large cities (over 100,000 inhabitants) also included Luhansk, Mariupol, Makiivka, Horlivka, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Alchevsk, Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. Now the city of Kramatorsk is the interim administrative centre of the Donetsk Oblast, whereas the interim centre of Luhansk Oblast is Sievierodonetsk.
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the south.
Russia spans more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area, stretching eleven time zones, and bordering 16 sovereign nations. Moscow is the country’s capital.
The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 and since 1993 Russia been governed as a federal semi-presidential republic. Russia is a major great power, with the world’s second-most powerful military, and the fourth-highest military expenditure. As a recognised nuclear-weapon state, the country possesses the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Ukraine is a large country in Eastern Europe known for its Orthodox churches, Black Sea coastline and forested mountains. Its capital, Kiev, features the gold-domed St. Sophia’s Cathedral, with 11th-century mosaics and frescoes. Overlooking the Dnieper River is the Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery complex, a Christian pilgrimage site housing Scythian tomb relics and catacombs containing mummified Orthodox monks.