The battle for eastern Ukraine continued to grow in intensity, with Russian forces now controlling most of the key city of Syevyerodonetsk in the Donbas, as the United States announced it would send Ukraine longer-range rocket systems in a boost for the outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian forces.
However, the announced consignment of high-tech weaponry stops short of delivering the long-range systems repeatedly requested by Kyiv.
The United States agreed to provide the high-mobility artillery rocket systems, known as HIMARS, that can strike with precision at targets up to 80 kilometers away, after Ukraine gave “assurances” that it will not use the missiles to strike inside Russia, a senior administration official said.
In a guest essay published in The New York Times on May 31, U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed that he has decided to “provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
On the battlefield, with heavy casualties on both the Ukrainian and Russian sides, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration said Russian troops control most of Syevyerodonetsk.
“The Russians are storming, consolidating in the center of Syevyerodonetsk, while continuing to destroy infrastructure and industrial facilities,” Serhiy Hayday wrote on Telegram early on June 1.
The British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence update posted on Twitter on June 1 that “over half of the town is likely now occupied by Russian forces, including Chechen fighters.”
The British intelligence report said that outside of the Donbas, “Russia continues to conduct long-range missile strikes against infrastructure across Ukraine.”
Hayday said a Russian air strike hit a tank containing nitric acid at a chemical plant in Syevyerodonetsk. He warned remaining residents of the city not to leave their homes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the air strike was “just crazy” but said it was “no longer surprising that for the Russian military, for Russian commanders, for Russian soldiers, any madness is absolutely acceptable.”
Zelenskiy also reported that Ukrainian forces have had some success near the southern city of Kherson and are advancing in parts of the Kharkiv region to the east of Kyiv.
“Our defenders are showing the utmost courage and remain masters of the situation at the front despite the fact the Russian Army has a significant advantage in terms of equipment and numbers,” he said in his nightly address.
To counter that Russian advantage, Washington will send Ukraine the HIMARS as part of a new $700-million package of security assistance for Ukraine that will be unveiled on June 1. It will also include helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, tactical vehicles, spare parts, and more, according to unnamed officials.
The U.S. decision to provide the advance rocket systems tries to strike a balance between the desire to help Ukraine battle ferocious Russian artillery barrages while not providing systems that could allow Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia and escalate the conflict.
Kyiv has asked the United States for mobile batteries of long-range rockets, the M270 MLRS and the M142 HIMARS, which can simultaneously launch multiple rockets with a range of up to 300 kilometers — eight times or more the distance of artillery in the field.
The MLRS “is really the weapon that we badly need,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said last week at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps, where he pressed Western allies for heavy weapons.
But in the end, Washington settled for the medium-range HIMARS rocket launchers that can fire with precision as far as 80 kilometers away.
Washington expects Ukraine to deploy the weapons in the Donbas region, where they can be used to strike Russian artillery units and forces targeting Ukrainian towns.
Shortly after Biden’s piece was published in The New York Times, Russian military officials announced that the country’s nuclear forces were holding drills in Ivanovo Province near Moscow, Interfax news agency reported.
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The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on May 31 that up to 12,000 civilians remain trapped and in need of aid in Syevyerodonetsk.
“I am horrified to see Syevyerodonetsk, the thriving city where we had our operational headquarters, become the epicenter of yet another chapter of the brutal war in Ukraine,” said NRC chief Jan Egeland.
“We fear that up to 12,000 civilians remain caught in cross fire in the city, without sufficient access to water, food, medicine or electricity. The near-constant bombardment is forcing civilians to seek refuge in bomb shelters and basements, with precious few opportunities for those trying to escape.”
