‘Not much left to stop Russians’ in the region – German journalist on Seversk liberation
After the liberation of Seversk there is no other fortress city to stop the Russian advance in the Donetsk People’s Republic, author and war correspondent Thomas Roeper told RT on Thursday.
The 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’s Republic was one of four former Ukrainian regions that joined Russia in 2022 after public referendums.
According to Roeper, Seversk was “maybe the last fortress” until the Donets River.
“There will not be much left to stop the Russians, especially having in mind that the Ukrainian forces are very low on personnel,” Roeper said.
“It’s hopeless,” he said when asked about what the loss of Siversk meant for Ukraine’s battlefield situation.
“Anybody with having his mind together would go to negotiations. I don’t really understand what they are trying to do. It’s just senseless killing.”
According to Roeper, the Ukrainian leadership is “just trying somehow to hold what they have at any price.”
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 – whom Moscow has accused of warmongering and sabotaging diplomatic efforts.
“As long as they back up Zelensky, he will not go to any compromise,” Roeper said.
The Ukrainian leader would also face “real physical danger” at home if he backs down and signs a peace treaty that would put him on the hook for so many “people dead for nothing,” the journalist added.
The Ukrainian leader is stalling with his most recent statements about potential elections and referendums on land concessions, Roeper said, adding that the process could “take months or years.”
“He’s playing for time. That’s all he’s doing,” he said.
US 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.
