Russian troops are apparently trying to cut off the large city of Lysychansk, the Ukrainian site reports. Should the city fall, Russian forces would take control of the entire Luhansk region for the first time.
According to information from Kyiv, the situation in eastern Ukraine around the city of Lyssychansk, which is besieged by Russian troops, is getting worse. "The enemy is concentrating its main efforts on encircling the Ukrainian soldiers in Lysychansk from the south and west and establishing complete control over the Luhansk region," the Ukrainian General Staff said in its situation report. Information from the combat zones can hardly be verified independently.
Lysychansk is the last major place in Luhansk Oblast still held by Ukrainian troops. The conquest of the area is one of Moscow's declared war aims.
There is also fighting in the suburbs of the big city. The General Staff reported that the Russian attempt to bring a section of the Bakhmut-Lysychansk supply route under control had failed. At the same time, according to Ukrainian information, the Russian troops have increased their military activities in the direction of Kramatorsk.
The city of Kramatorsk is the southern point of the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk conurbation, which had around half a million inhabitants before the war. So far, the Russian troops had tried to advance into the area mainly from the north. Also on Friday artillery battles from several suburbs of Sloviansk were reported from this direction. However, according to Ukrainian information, there was no Russian ground offensive here. The information could not be verified independently.
