Top Ukrainian general begs his US counterparts for additional weapons

• Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the far eastern city of Severodonetsk.
• Russia has focused its assault in the Luhansk region on the city and its twin, Lysychansk.
• Ukraine claims it needs hundreds of these units to push back and liberate approximately 20%

In a phone discussion with his US counterpart on Friday, Ukraine’s top general asked for more potent weapons after Ukrainian troops withdrew from the far eastern city of Severodonetsk after months of brutal combat with invading Russian forces.

“I have empathised the necessity to attain fire parity with the enemy, which will allow us to stabilise the situation in the most threatening Luhansk direction,” General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, said in a statement summing up his call with Mark Milley, US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

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Until recently, Severodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk, which is still defended by government soldiers, were the only two major cities in the Luhansk region under Ukrainian authority.

After being repulsed from the capital city of Kyiv, Russian forces have focussed their onslaught on the Luhansk region and the neighboring Donetsk province, where Ukraine still controls a number of large cities.

Ukraine got four high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars) from the United States this week, the most potent weapons delivered to date after months of pleading for longer-range and heavier-caliber armament from western partners. Germany sent a dozen Panzerhaubitzen 2000 mobile howitzers.

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The United States has pledged to supply another batch of Himars and the United Kingdom will provide additional military support, but Ukraine claims it needs hundreds of these units to push back and liberate approximately 20 percent of occupied territory in the far eastern and southern coastal regions.