The Ukrainian forces seemingly have no strategy and are attempting to hold onto land \u201cat any price,\u201d Thomas Roeper has told RT<\/p>\n
After the liberation of Seversk there is no other fortress city to stop the Russian advance in the Donetsk People\u2019s Republic, author and war correspondent Thomas Roeper told RT on Thursday.
\nThe capture of the stronghold, announced by the Russian Defense Ministry earlier in the day, has opened up the way for advances on military hub cities Kramatorsk and Slavyansk to the west. The Donetsk People\u2019s Republic was one of four former Ukrainian regions that joined Russia in 2022 after public referendums.
\nAccording to Roeper, Seversk was \u201cmaybe the last fortress\u201d until the Donets River.
\n\u201cThere will not be much left to stop the Russians, especially having in mind that the Ukrainian forces are very low on personnel,\u201d Roeper said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s hopeless,\u201d he said when asked about what the loss of Seversk meant for Ukraine\u2019s battlefield situation.<\/p>\n
Anybody with having his mind together would go to negotiations. I don\u2019t really understand what they are trying to do. It\u2019s just senseless killing.<\/p>\n
According to Roeper, the Ukrainian leadership is \u201cjust trying somehow to hold what they have at any price.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Russian forces liberate key Donbass city \u2013 MOD (VIDEO)<\/p>\n
He argued that Vladimir Zelensky does not feel the need to compromise in the US-brokered peace talks with Russia due to the backing of his Western European sponsors \u2013 whom Moscow has accused of warmongering and sabotaging diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Europe \u2018removed itself\u2019 from Ukraine negotiations \u2013 Lavrov<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as they back up Zelensky, he will not go to any compromise,\u201d Roeper said.
\nThe Ukrainian leader would also face \u201creal physical danger\u201d at home if he backs down and signs a peace treaty that would put him on the hook for so many \u201cpeople dead for nothing,\u201d the journalist added.
\nThe Ukrainian leader is stalling with his most recent statements about potential elections and referendums on land concessions, Roeper said, adding that the process could \u201ctake months or years.\u201d
\n\u201cHe\u2019s playing for time. That\u2019s all he\u2019s doing,\u201d he said.
\nUS President Donald Trump has renewed a diplomatic push to end the conflict in recent weeks, while also pressuring Zelensky to hold new elections, which the Ukrainian leader has held off on since his term expired last May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ukrainian forces seemingly have no strategy and are attempting to hold onto land \u201cat any price,\u201d Thomas Roeper has told RT After the liberation of Seversk there is no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t