The governor of Lugansk admits that they “handed over” Severodonetsk due to lack of weapons

Aug. 24 () –

The governor of Lugansk, Sergei Gaidai, explained in an interview that they “handed over” Severodonetsk, in the east of the country, to Russian troops in June due to a lack of weapons, especially multiple rocket launchers.

“If we had what we have now and those battles would have started now, then maybe we would have kept warehouses. Before there was no such opportunity. They had an advantage in terms of artillery,” he explained in an interview with a Ukrainian media outlet collected by the news agency. UNION news.

The governor of Lugansk has pointed to the lack of multiple launch rocket systems (HIMARS) coming from the United States. “There was no such thing then. It was very difficult to contain all that racist influx (referring to the Russian troops),” he added.

On the other hand, Gaidai has emphasized that the decision to withdraw from Severodonetsk was not made by the military who were in their positions. “We defended the Army”, the governor of Lugansk pointed out, ruling out the accusations of “treason” for the “surrender” of the city.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the seizure of Severodonetsk and Borovskoye in an offensive that it attributed to the People’s Militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic. Moscow’s advances came after Ukrainian authorities confirmed they had lost control of Loskutivka and Ray-Oleksandrivka.

Lugansk Mayor Okelsander Striuk announced on June 25 that the city was under Russian control. “As far as I know, they have appointed a ‘commander,'” Striuk said in statements to Ukrainian television collected by the Ukrinform news agency.

Russian troops besieged the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk in June with dozens of Ukrainian soldiers inside. This episode was thus reminiscent of what happened at the Azovstal steel plant, located in the port city of Mariupol and the last bastion of the Ukrainian forces in the area.