Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Vladimir Putin on Sunday that their forces had gained “full control” of Lysychansk and several nearby settlements, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Ukraine’s military command confirmed on Sunday night that its troops had been forced to withdraw from the city, saying otherwise there would be “fatal consequences”. He said: “To preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw.” Earlier in the day, Ukraine had disputed the Russian claim. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was not in full control and fighting continued on the outskirts of the city. He admitted, however, that Ukraine is in a difficult position. “We have no advantage there,” Zelensky told a news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was in Kyiv. “It’s really a very difficult situation there.” Zelensky said they are still trying to bring weapons to Lysychansk to reinforce Ukrainian forces. Fighting in eastern Ukraine has remained intense since Moscow refocused its efforts there. The violence has even spread into Ukraine, with officials in the Russian city of Belgorod accusing Ukrainian forces on Sunday of shelling a neighborhood, killing three people and damaging homes. Ukraine: latest developments Russia’s capture of Lysychansk means that Moscow has effectively gained control of the entire Luhansk region as well as over half of the Donetsk region, accounting for about 75% of the two eastern regions, collectively known as the Donbass. Seizing the entire Donbass region has been a key goal of the Russian invasion, with the country concentrating much of its forces there after failing to capture northern Ukraine, including the capital, Kiev, in late March. The advance will bring Russian forces closer to several other cities and towns in Ukrainian-held Donetsk, including the city of Sloviansk, where authorities said six people were killed and 15 wounded in shelling on Sunday and the regional capital after 2014 .Kramatorsk, where a rocket destroyed a hotel, according to mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko. He said three rockets hit the city on Sunday and no casualties had been reported so far. Russian forces released a video online allegedly taken in Lysychansk of Russian soldiers solemnly holding Russian and Chechen flags in front of war-damaged buildings. Last month Ukraine’s military withdrew from the Luhansk city of Severodonetsk, just north of Lysihansk, citing the scale of their casualties. Although Ukraine does not release figures on the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed and in which locations, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said at the time that between 100 and 200 Ukrainian soldiers were dying each day. The London-based Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces had likely deliberately withdrawn from Lysychansk to avoid encirclement. The highway and main supply route between the Ukrainian-controlled region of Donetsk and Lysihansk had become unsafe due to shelling. Several civilians, including a French journalist, have died driving along the route in the past month. Inside Lysychansk, according to an aid worker interviewed by France24 who was still evacuating the city, Russia was using its superior artillery capabilities to level buildings one by one, which meant that Ukrainian troops had nowhere to flee. “Russian forces are entrenched in the Lysychansk region and the city is burning,” said Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region. “If houses and administrative buildings in Sievierodonetsk survived a month of street fighting, in Lysychansk the same administrative buildings were completely destroyed in a shorter period of time.” Haidai said that despite Ukrainian forces destroying a Russian ammunition depot in eastern Ukraine, the Russians were “stubbornly moving forward”. Ukraine’s military intelligence service told the Guardian last month that Ukraine had an artillery of up to 10 to 15 Russian guns. Since then, several Western countries have pledged to deliver more military aid, including artillery. Separately, Russia blamed Ukraine for a missile attack on the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine, in which it said three people were killed and four were injured, including a 10-year-old child. Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 11 apartment buildings and 39 single-family homes were damaged or destroyed in the overnight incident. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said it was “deliberately planned and launched against the civilian population.” Russia said it intercepted three Ukrainian missiles, but one hit an apartment building. There have been several cases of explosions in Belgorod since the beginning of the invasion. Ukraine has not directly accepted responsibility, but has previously described the incidents as “karma” for Russia. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a Russian ally, said the two states had created “a single army” and that Belarus would stand with Russia in its war against Ukraine. “We were and will act together with our brothers in Russia. Our participation in the ‘special operation’ was determined by me a long time ago,” Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying as he celebrated Belarus’ Independence Day on Sunday. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST On Saturday, Lukashenko claimed that no Belarusian soldiers were currently fighting in Ukraine and that Belarus would only fight in response to a provocation. He then claimed, without providing evidence, that last week Belarusian anti-aircraft systems had shot down several missiles fired from Ukraine at Belarusian military facilities. “They challenge us. I have to tell you – three days ago, maybe a little more, they tried to attack military installations on the territory of Belarus from the territory of Ukraine. But, thank God, the Panzer anti-aircraft systems managed to intercept all the missiles,” Lukashenko said. Ukraine has not responded to Lukashenko’s claims, but in an interview on June 6, Zelensky played down the risk of a repeat invasion from Belarusian soil.
