The Latest Breaking News from Lysychansk

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukrainian forces will retreat from Severodonetsk after weeks of fierce fighting over the key city, a senior Ukrainian official said Friday, in a major boost to Russia's goal of seizing a swathe of eastern Ukraine. 

KYIV: A district south of the city of Lysychansk in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region was "fully occupied" by Russian forces as of Friday morning, a local Ukrainian official said on television.

Brussels (AFP) - EU leaders granted "candidate status" to Ukraine in its bid to join the bloc, as tensions deepened over Russian gas supplies and Moscow's forces closed in on key cities. 

Ukraine was set to pull its troops from the ruined city of Sievierodonetsk after weeks of street fighting and bombardment, the regional governor said, in what would be a significant gain for Russia as it grinds out its offensive in the east.

Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai says Russian forces have captured two villages in the region and Ukrainian troops may need to pull back from Lysychansk.

Russia getting closer to capturing Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, last Luhansk cities under Kyiv’s control, say advisers

LVIV, Ukraine — Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers appeared to be all but encircled as Russian troops advanced Thursday around two strategically important cities in eastern Ukraine in what a senior Ukrainian official called a “fearful climax” of the battle for the Donbas, signaling that the fall of a significant part…

The Russian soldiers had also placed grenades around the outside of a Ukrainian hospital with tripwires installed in a circle as a means of defence - but a stray goat triggered tripwires and injured troops

Al Jazeera recaps key events in week 17 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.