Sievierodonetsk and the regional front on 1 June 2022

What did the regional map of the war look like on 1 June 2022? The reports from that day and the preceding days point to a front concentrated in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, while occupation practices were taking hold in the south.

The fight for Sievierodonetsk

On 1 June 2022, fighting for control of Sievierodonetsk continued. According to the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Haidai, Russian forces already controlled 80% of the city's territory. Two days earlier, on 30 May, Ukrainian authorities had said Russian forces had entered the city, leaving it without water.

The humanitarian risks were compounded by industrial hazards. On 31 May, an airstrike hit a tank filled with nitric acid in Sievierodonetsk, and the region's governor asked residents to stay inside bomb shelters because of the danger of toxic fumes. On 30 May, Haidai also reported that a French journalist had been killed by Russian shelling in Luhansk Oblast.

Casualties beyond Luhansk

The pressure was not confined to one city. On 31 May, a Russian missile hit an apartment in Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast, killing three people and injuring six. The Joint Forces grouping said that on 1 June at least seven people were killed and 16 wounded, mainly in Sievierodonetsk and Sloviansk. Taken together, the reports show Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts absorbing the bulk of the reported civilian harm in these days.

The occupied south

The southern regions presented a different picture. On 30 May, a car bomb was detonated in Russian-occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, injuring at least three people; Russian authorities blamed pro-Ukrainian residents.

The same day, Russia began exporting grain from occupied Kherson Oblast to Russia. An official of the Russian-occupying administration, Kirill Stremousov, said the administration was also working on supplying sunflower seeds to local and Russian processing plants. Ukraine accused Russia of stealing its grain.

What the picture showed

The reports from these days describe two distinct regional realities. In the east, the question was control of a city and the safety of those still in it, with water cut off, chemical hazards and daily casualties. In the south, the question was administration of occupied territory, from security incidents in Melitopol to the redirection of agricultural output from Kherson Oblast. For regional authorities, including the Luhansk administration that was reporting both territorial losses and civilian deaths, the war was being conducted simultaneously as a battle for ground and a contest over who governed communities and their resources.