Zelensky vows to return to fight Russia in Lysychansk after withdrawal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Sunday that Ukrainian forces would regroup and return to fight Russian troops in Lysychansk after withdrawing from the city over the weekend.

In his nightly address on Sunday, Zelensky added that the latest supply of modern weapons coming from the West would aid them greatly. 

“And if the command of our army withdraws people from certain points of the front where the enemy has the greatest fire superiority, in particular this applies to Lysychansk, it means only one thing: we will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons,” Zelensky said in his address.

Russian armed forces took control of the city in the eastern Luhansk region as its latest victory in its assault on Ukraine’s east, having seized the neighboring Sievierdonetsk the prior week. The cities were central sites of the war in the Donbas region that began when Russia initially invaded in 2014.

Ukraine has said that it is losing 100 to 200 soldiers a day amid efforts to fend off Russia’s invasion, while Russia’s death toll is also believed to be high.

Zelensky added that Ukraine will not give up in this fight.

“Let them really evaluate what they got over this time and how much they paid for it. Because their current reports will turn into dust just as the previous ones,” Zelensky said. “We are gradually moving forward — in the Kharkiv region, in the Kherson region and at sea: Zmiinyi is a good example of this. There will be a day when we will say the same about Donbas.” 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, has killed thousands of civilians and displaced more than 8.4 million Ukrainians.