By Tom Balmforth and Marko and Djurica
KIEV/POKROVSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Russian forces occupied Sievierodonetsk in its entirety on Saturday, the mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city said, confirming Kiev’s biggest battlefield setback in more than a month, following weeks of one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
Ukraine’s Armed Forces classified the city’s retreat as a “tactical retreat” to fight from higher ground in Lysychansk, on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets River.
Pro-Russian separatists say Moscow forces are now attacking Lysychansk.
The fall of Sievierodonetsk – once home to more than 100,000 people and now virtually a desert – was Russia’s biggest victory since capturing the port of Mariupol last month. And it transforms the scene on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, after weeks in which Moscow’s huge advantage in firepower yielded only minor gains.
Russia now hopes to press on and gain more ground on the opposite bank of the river, while Ukraine believes the price Moscow paid to capture the small town’s ruins leaves opposing forces vulnerable to a counter-attack in the coming weeks.
“The city is now under full Russian occupation. They are trying to establish their own order and as far as I know they have appointed some sort of commander,” Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said on national television.
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