Russian forces reach key highway from Donbas cities

Advancing Russian forces came closer to surrounding Ukrainian troops in the east, briefly seizing positions on the last highway out of a crucial pair of Ukrainian-held cities before being beaten back, a Ukrainian official said on Thursday.   

 Three months into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has abandoned its assault on the capital Kyiv and is trying to consolidate control of the industrial eastern Donbas region, where it has backed a separatist revolt since 2014.   
 The fall of the two cities, which straddle the Siverskiy Donets river, would bring nearly the whole of Luhansk province under Russian control, a key Kremlin war aim.   

 “Russia has the advantage, but we are doing everything we can” in the battle in the area, said General Oleksiy Gromov, deputy chief of the main operations department of Ukraine’s general staff.   

 Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, said around 50 Russian soldiers had reached the highway and “managed to gain a foothold for some time. They even set up some kind of checkpoint there”.   “The checkpoint was broken, they were thrown back. That is to say, the Russian army does not control the route now, but they are shelling it,” he said in an interview posted on social media.
 KYIV REUTERS 26 May  2022