Saturday saw fierce fighting for Ukraine’s strategically important Lysychansk, despite Kyiv’s denial of the separatists’ assertion that they had ringed the eastern city. Fighting has been fierce in Lysychansk, the only significant city in the Lugansk region of the Donbas that is still under Ukrainian control. Lysychansk is across the river from Severodonetsk, which Russia seized last week. If the city is taken, Russian soldiers would be able to advance farther into the Donbas area, which has become the focal point of their offensive after failing to take Kyiv after invading in late February.
Lysychansk is surrounded by fighting… According to Ruslan Muzytchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Guard, the city has not been encircled and is still in the hands of the Ukrainian army. The previous day, Andrei Marotchko, Lysychansk is entirely encircled, a spokesman for the separatist fighters informed the TASS news agency. The revelations come as missile attacks on Ukraine continue to claim scores of lives.
