Russia claimed control of the entire Lugansk region on Sundayeastern Ukraine, after the conquest of the key city of Lysychansk after intense fighting.
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At the same time, the Russian government accused Ukraine of having fired three missiles at a Russian city near the border between the two countries, killing three people.
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Russian Defense Minister “Sergei Shoigu informed the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed ForcesVladimir Putin, for the liberation of the Lugansk People’s Republic,” said a Defense Ministry statement quoted by Russian news agencies.
On Sunday morning, Luhansk region governor Sergei Gaidai hinted that Ukrainian forces were losing ground in Lysychansk, a prewar city of 100,000.
“The Russians are entrenching themselves in a district of Lysychansk, the city is on fire,” Gaidai said on Telegram.
“They are attacking the city with inexplicably brutal tactics,” he added.
The conquest of Lysychansk -if confirmed- would allow Russian troops to advance towards Sloviansk and Kramatorskfurther west, virtually assuring control of the region, which was already partly in the hands of pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
explosions in russian city
Russia also accused kyiv on Sunday of launching missiles at the city of Belgorod, near the border between the two countries.
“Russian anti-aircraft defenses shot down three Totchka-U missiles launched by Ukrainian nationalists against Belgorod. After the destruction of the Ukrainian missiles, the remains of one of them fell on a house,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. .
The governor of that region, Viacheslav Gladkov, had previously announced the death of at least three people in strong explosions in that city.
The explosions also left four injured, damaged 11 residential buildings and 39 houses, Gladkov said on the Telegram network.
Since the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine on February 24, the Russian government has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out attacks on Russian soil, especially in the Belgorod region.
In early April, Governor Gladkov accused Ukraine of attacking a fuel depot in Belgorod with two helicopters.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko also stated that his army had intercepted missiles launched from Ukraine, in the midst of versions about the growing involvement of his country, an ally of Russia, in the war between its two neighbors.
“They provoke us. I must say that about three days ago, maybe more, they tried to bomb military targets in Belarus from Ukraine,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by the Belarusian state agency Belta.
But Lukashenko assured that he has no intention of “fighting in Ukraine”, which would mean an escalation of the conflict..
The mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, a city in southern Ukraine controlled by Russian troops, announced on Sunday that the Ukrainian army had put a Russian military base in the city “out of service” on Saturday night.
‘Big losses’
Meanwhile, missiles continued to rain down on Ukraine, killing dozens of people.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cited six attacks in his daily address to the nation late on Saturday.
“Fierce fighting continues along the entire front line, in Donbas,” he said, also noting that “enemy activity in the Kharkov region is intensifying.”
In the small town of Donetsk, Siversk, a resident told AFP that “the shelling continues day and night”.
Two people were killed and three wounded – including two children – in an attack on the city of Dobropillya, according to local authorities in Donetsk.
Bombs also fell on residential properties in Sloviansk, in the heart of Donbas, killing a woman in her garden and wounding her husband, a neighbor told AFP on Saturday.
Zelensky warned against a “sense of relaxation” in many rear cities.
“The war is not over,” he said. “Sadly, his cruelty is only increasing in some places, and he cannot be forgotten.”
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukraine was “suffering heavy losses on all fronts.”
Rebuild Ukraine
In his speech, Zelensky also referred to the conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine that will start in Switzerland on Monday.
Leaders from a dozen countries and international organizations will meet in Lugano with the aim of mapping out a roadmap for the recovery of the war-torn country.
Rebuilding Ukraine “requires colossal investments, billions, new technologies, best practices, new institutions and, of course, reforms,” Zelensky anticipated.
The roadmap is expected to set out reconstruction needs for a destroyed infrastructure, a devastated economy, and urgent social and environmental recovery.
Reconstruction could cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
AFP
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