Moscow declared victory Monday after its forces seized the city of Lysychansk, signaling it will soon push its invasion deeper into Ukraine after capturing what had been Kyiv’s last major stronghold in the Luhansk province.
After a disastrous start to the invasion that began Feb. 24, Russia has dropped its plan of capturing major cities and found more success slowly expanding its hold on regions of eastern Ukraine already controlled before the war by pro-Russian separatist groups. But military analysts say Ukraine’s retreat will allow its battle-hardened forces to form more defensible lines, while Russia may find it hard to pacify the Ukrainian populations in the news areas it controls.