#lysychansk

“The Ukrainian army retreated from the strategic city of Lysychansk on Sunday as Russia claimed a major victory by seizing control of the entire eastern Luhansk region.

Agence France-Presse reports:

The Ukrainian withdrawal followed weeks of fierce fighting and marked a decisive breakthrough for Moscow’s forces more than four months after their invasion and after turning their focus away from the capital, Kyiv.

Lysychansk had been the last major city in the Luhansk area of the eastern Donbas region still in Ukrainian hands and its capture frees up Moscow’s forces to advance on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in neighbouring Donetsk.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had earlier denied Russian claims of Lysychansk’s fall before the Ukrainian army announced the retreat on Sunday evening.

“The continuation of the defence of the city would lead to fatal consequences” in the face of Russia’s superiority in numbers and equipment, the army said in a statement.

“In order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw.

“Unfortunately, steel will and patriotism are not enough for success – material and technical resources are needed.”

Russian forces seized Lysychansk’s twin city of Sievierodonetsk last week after weeks of intense fighting.

-via The Guardian

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“Australia will send more than $100m in new aid to Ukraine including military equipment, as well as levelling sanctions on 16 new Russian officials, following prime minister Anthony Albanese’s secret trip to Kyiv.

Albanese tacked on a day visit to Ukraine at the end of his European trip for the Nato summit, where he met the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and toured parts of the country devastated by Russia’s aggression.

Albanese visited Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, three towns in the Kyiv region that became synonymous with the brutality of Vladimir Putin’s invasion when evidence of mass killings and torture was uncovered after the withdrawal of Russian forces.”-via The Guardian

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“About 800,000 Ukrainians lost their homes as a result of the Russian invasion, reported Olena Shulyak, head of the Servant of the People party and deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada committee on the organization of state power.

Source : Shulyak, cited by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security

Shulyak's direct speech : "The Russian occupiers destroyed more than 15 million square meters of Ukrainian housing.

The most damage to the housing stock is in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Chernihiv regions."

Details : According to the deputy, about 220,000 Ukrainians have already submitted applications for compensation due to destroyed housing.”-via Pravda (Ukrainian source)

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“Australia will provide 34 additional armoured vehicles to Ukraine and prohibit Russian gold imports, Reuters reports.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv alongside Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, said Australia would also impose sanctions and travel bans on 16 more Russian ministers and oligarchs, bringing the total number of Russian individuals sanctioned by Australia to 843.

Albanese said Australia would give Ukraine 14 more armoured personnel carriers and 20 Bushmaster vehicles and a number of drones.”-via The Guardian

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“At least six people have died in the attack on Slovyansk, local officials have said.

Donetsk regional administration spokesperson Tetiana Ihnatchenko told Ukraine’s public news network that 15 people had also been wounded in the attack.

The city’s mayor, Vadym Lyakh, said on messaging app Telegram that the attack was the worst shelling to hit the city recently and caused nearly 15 fires.

Kramatorsk, another city in the Donetsk region that is not occupied by Russian forces, is understood to have also experienced shelling.”

-via The Guardian

“More details about the assault on Ukraine’s eastern city of Slovyansk earlier today …

A child was among the six people who died during shelling from multiple rocket launchers, the area’s mayor has said.

“Provisional toll from today’s shelling: six dead, 15 injured. Among the dead, there is a child,” Vadim Lyakh said on Facebook.

A spokesperson for the Donetsk region earlier reported the same toll to Ukrainian media, AFP reports.

Lyakh had described the attack on Slovyansk as “the heaviest for a long time”, saying there were 15 fires and “many dead and wounded”.

Meanwhile, rocket strikes hit the city of Kramatorsk, also in Donetsk, for the second day in a row, mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko said.

The strikes, which hit a residential area and an unoccupied hotel, caused no casualties, he said.”