• Russian soldiers completely took the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, confirming Kyiv’s largest combat setback 
• According to pro-Russian rebels, Moscow’s forces are currently advancing on Lysychansk.
• Since conquering the port of Mariupol last month, Russia’s largest win has been the fall of Sievierodonetsk,

Russian soldiers completely took the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, confirming Kyiv’s largest combat setback in more than a month after weeks of some of the fiercest fighting.

In order to fight from higher ground in Lysychansk on the opposing bank of the Siverskyi Donets river, Ukraine labelled its retreat from the city a “tactical pullback.” According to pro-Russian rebels, Moscow’s forces are currently advancing on Lysychansk.

Since conquering the port of Mariupol last month, Russia’s largest win has been the fall of Sievierodonetsk, a city that was once home to more than 100,000 people but is now a wasteland. After weeks in which Moscow’s enormous firepower advantage had only produced gradual gains, it completely changes the battlefield in the east.

Now, Russia will try to advance and gain more territory on the other bank, while Ukraine will pray that the price Moscow paid for taking the small city’s ruins would make Russia’s soldiers susceptible to a counterattack.

In a video message, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised that Ukraine will retake the cities it had lost. We don’t know how long it will last, how many more blows, losses, or efforts will be required until we feel triumph is on the horizon, he added, acknowledging the emotional toll of the conflict.

Oleksandr Stryuk, the mayor of Sievierodonetsk, declared on public television that “Russia is now fully occupying the city.” They are making an effort to create their own order.

Chief of military intelligence for Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, told Reuters that by removing its units from Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine was performing “a tactical regrouping.”

He claimed that Russia was employing the same strategy it employed in Mariupol: eradicating the city from the face of the planet. “The situation makes it impossible to maintain the defence in the abandoned buildings and open fields. In order to continue their defence operations, the Ukrainian soldiers are moving to a higher location.”

According to the Russian defence ministry, Russian soldiers now have complete control over the towns of Borivske and Sievierodonetsk.

However, shortly after that, Ukrainian bombardment from outside Sievierodonetsk compelled Russian troops to halt the evacuation of residents from a chemical facility there, local police cooperating with Russian separatist authorities were quoted as saying by Russia’s Tass news agency.

Some Ukrainian special troops were still in Sievierodonetsk directing artillery fire, according to Oleksiy Arestovych, a senior aide to Zelenskiy. However, he made no mention of any frontal resistance put up by their forces. View More

According to a pro-Russian separatist fighter, who was quoted by Russia’s Interfax news agency, Russian and pro-Russian forces have infiltrated Lysychansk and are engaged in combat there.

Russia also carried out missile attacks all throughout Ukraine. According to the local regional military administration, missiles struck a carwash and a car repair facility in the town of Sarny, about 185 miles (300 km) west of Kyiv, and killed at least three individuals there.