Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin that Russian troops, along with members of a local separatist militia, “took full control of the city of Lysychansk,” a ministry statement said. The seizure of Lysychansk constitutes “the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” one of two breakaway regions in Ukraine that Russia recognizes as sovereign, the statement said. Ukrainian fighters have spent weeks trying to defend Lysychansk and prevent it from falling to Russia, as neighboring Severodonetsk did a week ago. Later on Sunday, the Ukrainian military said it had made a decision to withdraw from the city. “Continuing the defense of the city would lead to fatal consequences. In order to preserve the lives of the Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw,” it said in a statement on social media. Earlier today, the governor of Luhansk said Russian forces were reinforcing their positions in a grueling battle to capture the last resistance stronghold in the eastern province.
“They are gaining ground”
“The occupiers threw all their forces into Lysychansk. They attacked the city with incomprehensibly cruel tactics,” Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said on the Telegram messaging app. “They are suffering significant losses, but they are moving forward stubbornly. They are gaining a foothold in the city.” A burnt car and damaged residential buildings are seen in Lysychansk, Ukraine, early Sunday. (Military Command of Luhansk Region/The Associated Press) A river separates Lysychansk from Severodonetsk. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said during an online interview late Saturday that Russian forces had for the first time managed to cross the river from the north, creating a “threatening” situation. WATCHES | Russia steps up attacks in Lysychansk:
Russia steps up attacks in Lysychansk
Russian-backed separatists claim the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk is surrounded despite denials by Ukrainian officials. Arestovich said they had not reached the center of the city, but that the course of the fighting showed that the battle for Lysihansk would be decided by Monday. Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk are the two provinces that make up Donbas, where Russia has focused its offensive since pulling out of northern Ukraine and the capital, Kyiv, in the spring. Pro-Russian separatists have held parts of both eastern provinces since 2014, and Moscow recognizes all of Luhansk and Donetsk as sovereign republics. Syria’s government said Wednesday it would also recognize the “independence and sovereignty” of the two regions. The capture of Lysychansk would open the way for the Russians to move west into Donetsk province, where the large Ukrainian-controlled city of Sloviansk has come under multiple rocket attacks since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Elsewhere in the war, the exiled mayor of the Russian-held southern city of Melitopol said on Sunday that Ukrainian missiles had destroyed one of four Russian military bases in the city.
Russia says the missiles were fired at Belgorod
The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine also launched missile and drone strikes on the western Russian cities of Kursk and Belgorod, but that the aerial weapons were shot down. Roman Starovoit, the regional governor of Kursk, said the town of Tetkino, on the border with Ukraine, came under mortar fire. As a result of the impact of the Ukrainian missiles, the debris of one of them fell on a residential building in Belgorod, about 40 kilometers north of the border with Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said four people were killed Sunday by shrapnel from an intercepted missile. Russia’s Defense Ministry said two Ukrainian drones were shot down over the city of Kursk, 190 kilometers north of Belgorod. Rescue workers work at the site of a damaged residential building after explosions were reported in Belgorod, Russia on Sunday. (Alexey Stopichev/BelPressa/Reuters) The leader of neighboring Belarus, a Russian ally, claimed on Saturday that Ukraine fired missiles at military targets on Belarusian soil several days ago, but all were intercepted by an air defense system. President Alexander Lukashenko called the alleged attack a provocation and noted that no Belarusian soldiers were fighting in Ukraine. There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian military. Belarus hosts Russian military units and was used as a staging post for the Russian invasion. Last week, just hours before Lukashenko was due to meet Putin, Russian long-range bombers fired missiles at Ukraine from Belarusian airspace for the first time. Lukashenko has so far resisted attempts to drag his army into war. But during their meeting, Putin announced that Russia planned to supply Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system and reminded Lukashenko that his government depends on financial support from Russia.
A Russian ship carrying grain was seized
In Turkey, customs authorities seized a Russian cargo ship carrying grain that Ukraine says is stolen, Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey said on Sunday. Ukraine had previously asked Turkey to detain the Russian-flagged cargo ship Zhibek Zholy, according to an official and documents seen by Reuters. The Russian-flagged cargo ship Zhibek Zholy is seen off the coast of the Black Sea port of Karasu, Turkey, on Saturday. (Yoruk Isik/Reuters) Reuters reporters saw the ship Zhibek Zholy anchored about a kilometer off the coast and outside the port of Karasu on Sunday, with no apparent sign of movement on board or from other ships nearby. “We have full cooperation. The ship is currently at the port entrance, it has been seized by Turkish customs authorities,” Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar told Ukrainian national television. Bodnar said the fate of the ship would be decided by a meeting of investigators on Monday and that Ukraine hoped to confiscate the grain.
