The Latest Breaking News from Donetsk

Russian missiles struck an apartment block and close to a kindergarten in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday, in strikes U.S. President Joe Biden condemned as "barbarism" as world leaders gathered in Europe to discuss further sanctions against Moscow.

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - Russia's army has "fully occupied" the key Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk after weeks of fighting, its mayor said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to send nuclear-capable missiles to Belarus within months.

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine said it came under  "massive bombardment" Saturday from neighbouring Belarus, a Russian ally not officially involved in the conflict, the day after announcing a retreat from the strategic city of Severodonetsk.

Russian missiles rained down across Ukraine on Saturday, hitting military facilities in the west and the north as well as a southern city as the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War Two entered its fifth month. Russian artillery and airstrikes pounded the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk…

Russian forces fully occupied the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk on Saturday, both sides said, confirming Kyiv's biggest battlefield setback for more than a month following weeks of some of the war's bloodiest fighting.

Multiple air strikes have hit Ukraine as EU leaders gathered in Germany for the international G7 summit

Ukraine has ordered the withdrawal of its troops from Sievierodonetsk, with the foreign minister insisting retreating from battle “doesn’t mean losing the war”.

The last Ukrainian troops holding out in a desperate battle for the city of Sievierodonetsk are ordered to withdraw, but analysts say it is not a major strategic victory for Moscow.

It took Russia weeks of fierce fighting, an untold number of casualties, and relentless shelling before the exhausted Ukrainian defenders of Sievierodonetsk received orders to quit its smouldering wreckage.