Lugansk ‘liberated’
Russia yesterday claimed to have captured the strategic Ukrainian city of Lysychansk and the entire frontline Lugansk region which would mark a decisive breakthrough for Moscow's forces seeking control of the country's east.
The development came as Belarus said it had intercepted missiles fired by Kyiv and Russia reported that Ukraine launched three cluster missiles at Belgorod, killing four people. Ukrainian forces also struck a Russian military base in occupied southern Ukraine.
Lysychansk had been the last major city in the Lugansk area of the eastern Donbas still in Ukrainian hands and its capture would signal a deeper push into the Donbas, Moscow's focus since retreating from Kyiv.
On Saturday, there were conflicting reports about Lysychansk's status with Ukraine denying Moscow's claim to have encircled the entire city, located across the river from neighbouring Severodonetsk which Russian forces seized last week.
Ukraine has yet to comment on the claim that Lysychansk has fallen following days of intense clashes.
"Sergei Shoigu has informed the commander in chief of the Russian armed forces, Vladimir Putin, of the liberation of the People's Republic of Lugansk," the defence ministry yesterday said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.
A few minutes prior to the announcement, which AFP has not verified, a spokesman for the Russian defence ministry had said fighting was ongoing in Lysychansk and that Ukrainian forces were "completely" surrounded.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported several explosions in the city of nearly 400,000, some 40 km (25 miles) north of the border with Ukraine.
At least 11 apartment buildings and 39 houses were damaged, including five that were destroyed, Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Senior Russian lawmaker Andrei Klishas accused Ukraine of shelling Belgorod and called for a stern response.
"The death of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Belgorod are a direct act of aggression on the part of Ukraine and require the most severe - including a military - response," Klishas wrote on Telegram.
Moscow has accused Kyiv of numerous attacks on Belgorod and other regions bordering Ukraine since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility but has described the incidents as payback and "karma" for Russia's actions.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine and Reuters could not independently verify the Russian accounts.
In the Russian-occupied southern Ukraine city of Melitopol, Ukrainian forces hit a military base with more than 30 strikes yesterday, the city's exiled mayor said in a video address on Telegram.
The base had been "taken out of action", Ivan Fedorov said.
A Moscow-installed official said several private residential houses near the airfield were damaged.
"Shells fell on the territory of the airfield. There were no casualties," Evgeny Balitsky, head of the Russia-installed council in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, wrote on Telegram.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said its air force had flown some 15 sorties "in virtually all directions of hostilities".
"About 20 units of enemy equipment and two field ammunition depots were destroyed."
Reuters could not immediately verify the accounts.
Separately, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko accused Kyiv of "provoking" his country and said his army intercepted missiles fired at his country by Ukrainian forces "around three days ago".
Belarus is a long-term Russian ally that supported the February 24 invasion and has been accused by Kyiv of launching its own attacks on Ukrainian territory.
But Lukashenko denied any involvement in a recent cross-border incident, which would represent an escalation of the conflict.
"As I said more than a year ago, we do not intend to fight in Ukraine," he was quoted as saying by state news agency Belta on Saturday.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and cities levelled since Russia invaded in what Ukraine its Western allies say is an unprovoked war of aggression. Russia denies targeting civilians in what President Putin calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" its neighbour.
Missiles continued to rain down across Ukraine, killing dozens, and fierce fighting continued according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"Fierce fighting continues along the entire front line, in Donbas," he said in an address late Saturday, adding that "enemy activity in the Kharkiv region is intensifying".
Six people were killed in Sloviansk yesterday after the eastern Ukrainian city was hit by powerful shelling from Russian multiple rocket launchers, local officials said.
The attack was the worst shelling to hit the city recently and caused nearly 15 fires in the front line city in the industrial Donbas region that Russia is trying to capture, Mayor Vadym Lyakh wrote on Telegram.
Donetsk regional administration spokeswoman Tetiana Ihnatchenko told Ukraine's public news network that 15 people had been wounded in the attack.
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