4 Jul 2022

Ukraine confirms Russian capture of eastern city Lysychansk

5:58 am on 4 July 2022

Ukraine's military has confirmed that the eastern city of Lysychansk has fallen to Russian forces.

Plumes of smoke rise from Lysychansk during heavy fighting between Ukrainian forces with Russian troops on 1 July 2022.

Smoke rises from Lysychansk during heavy fighting between Ukrainian forces with Russian troops on 1 July 2022. Photo: AFP / Anadolu Agency

"After heavy fighting for Lysychansk, the defence forces of Ukraine were forced to withdraw from their occupied positions and lines," the army general staff said.

Earlier Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said his forces had captured Lysychansk and taken full control of Luhansk region.

Ukraine's troops were outgunned there.

Its general staff said that "in order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw".

It said the Russians had multiple advantages in artillery, aircraft, manpower and other forces.

Earlier, the head of Russia's Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, published video apparently showing Chechen fighters in the centre of Lysychansk.

Further west, the Ukrainian-held city of Slovyansk came under heavy shelling, with at least six people killed.

It is in Donetsk region, which with Luhansk forms the industrial Donbas.

8228956 02.07.2022 A fighter of the 6th Platov Cossack Regiment of the LPR and a serviceman of the Chechen special police regiment named after Akhmat Kadyrov install the banner of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a symbol of victory in the Great Patriotic War, on the city administration building in Lisichansk, the Luhansk People's Republic. Viktor Antonyuk / Sputnik (Photo by Viktor Antonyuk / Sputnik / Sputnik via AFP)

A fighter of the 6th Platov Cossack Regiment of the LPR installs the banner of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the city administration building in Lysychansk. Photo: Sputnik via AFP

Just before he launched the war, President Vladimir Putin recognised all of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent of Ukraine. Russian proxy forces began an insurgency there in 2014.

Just over a week ago Russian troops captured Severodonetsk, a city reduced to ruins by weeks of Russian bombardment.

Slovyansk and Kramatorsk are the two biggest cities in the Donetsk region still in Ukrainian hands.

The heavy Russian bombardment of Slovyansk on Sunday caused some 15 fires, Mayor Vadym Lyakh said, and video showed huge plumes of smoke rising over the city. He said it was the worst shelling there in recent time.

A video clip on Twitter showed big blasts from a distance - in Slovyansk, according to the caption. It was posted by Iuliia Mendel, ex-spokesperson for President Volodymyr Zelensky. The BBC was unable to verify the latest conditions in Slovyansk.

In other developments:

  • Russia accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians with a missile strike on Belgorod, a Russian city 40km (25 miles) from Ukraine's northern border. The local governor said four people were killed and Russia's defence ministry said three Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles had been shot down, but debris had fallen on an apartment block. Ukrainian officials dismissed the Russian claim, saying Moscow had staged a "provocation" in the city.
  • Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey said local customs officials had seized a Russian cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain. Earlier, Ukraine's prosecutor-general asked Turkey to detain the Zhibek Zholy, anchored off a port east of Istanbul.
  • - BBC

    Get the RNZ app

    for ad-free news and current affairs