by Tom Balmforth, Max Hunder and Simon Lewis
KYIV/KONSTYANTYNIVKA, Ukraine, July 3 (Reuters) – Russia announced on Sunday that it had taken full control of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine after its army, backed by pro-Russian separatist forces, , seized the city of Lysychansk.
The Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed this information. Yuri Sak, adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Minister, told Reuters by telephone that he could not “confirm that Lyssytchansk is under total control” of the Russians.
The Russian army, with the support of local separatist forces, is concentrating its operations on the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, in the Donbass (East), to dislodge the Ukrainian forces.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shogu has briefed President Vladimir Putin on the “liberation” of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine by the Russian military and local pro-Russian separatist forces, reports said. his Sunday services.
The Russian minister had previously indicated, via the Tass agency, that Russian troops had conquered Lyssytchansk, the last bastion of Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine, and the surrounding villages.
According to a memo from the Washington-based Institute for War Studies, Ukrainian forces “appeared deliberately withdrew from Lysychansk, leading to the Russian capture of the city on July 2.” .
The Russian army seized Sievierodonetsk, on the opposite bank of the Donets, in June after heavy fighting.
The mayor of Sloviansk, another eastern city, reported on Telegram that six people were killed by Russian shelling on Sunday. Vadim Lyakh affirms that the rocket fire, very violent, caused about fifteen fires.
Donetsk regional administration spokeswoman Tetiana Ihnatchenko told Ukrainian media that 15 people were injured in the attack.
THREE DEAD BELGOROD
The Russian Defense Minister also reported on Sunday Russian strikes on military infrastructure in Kharkiv, in the north-east of the country.
In the Russian city of Belgorod, about 70 km from Kharkiv, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that at least three people had been killed and dozens of homes destroyed in violent explosions on Sunday.
He added that at least four people had been injured and two hospitalized, including a 10-year-old boy, in this city of some 400,000 inhabitants about 40 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border.
At least 11 residential buildings and 39 houses were damaged, he said.
Andre Klishas, member of the Council of the Russian Federation, denounced Ukrainian bombardments and called for a firm response.
“The death of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Belgorod is a direct aggression by Ukraine and demands the harshest of responses – including military ones,” he wrote on Telegram.
The Ukrainian authorities did not react immediately and Reuters could not independently verify the Russian statements.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Moscow has accused Kyiv of several attacks on Belgorod and areas bordering Ukraine.
BOMBING ON MIKOLAV
The Ukrainian army also bombed a Russian military base in the occupied city of Melitopol, in southern Ukraine, said the mayor – exile – of the city, Ivan Fedorov, in a video post on Telegram.
The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the Ukrainian air force had carried out about fifteen sorties on points of conflict and that “about twenty units of enemy equipment and two ammunition depots” had been destroyed.
In Melitopol, in the oblast of Zaporijjia, the Ukrainian army carried out around thirty strikes, according to Ivan Fedorov.
The Russian agency RIA reports Ukrainian strikes on the area of the airfield, without specifying the nature of the targets.
Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the pro-Russian council in the Zaporizhia region, said on Telegram that the strikes hit the airfield and caused no injuries. Several nearby houses were damaged, he said.
Reuters could not independently verify this information.
In the South, the Russian army claims to have bombed command posts of the Ukrainian army Mykolav, a town near the strategic port of Odessa, on the Black Sea.
“The Russian occupiers are carrying out rocket attacks,” said the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Sunday. (Reportage Bureaus de Reuters, written by Lincoln Feast, French version Sophie Louet)