Russian forces now control Severodonetsk, but Zelensky vows Ukraine will re-take lost cities
Ongoing war expected to be discussed as G7 leaders meeting for summit on Sunday
Russian forces seized full control of the Eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk on Saturday, confirming Kyiv's biggest battlefield setback for more than a month, after weeks of some of the war's bloodiest fighting.
The fall of Severodonetsk — once home to more than 100,000 people, now a wasteland — was Russia's biggest victory since capturing the port of Mariupol last month. It transforms the battlefield in Eastern Ukraine after weeks in which Moscow's huge advantage in firepower had yielded only slow gains.
Russia will now be hoping to press on and seize more ground on the opposite bank, while Ukraine will hope that the price Moscow paid to capture the ruins of the small city will leave Russia's forces vulnerable to a counter-attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed in a video address that Ukraine would win back the cities it lost, including Severodonetsk. But acknowledging the war's emotional toll, he said "we don't have a sense of how long it will last, how many more blows, losses and efforts will be needed before we see victory is on the horizon."
Severodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said on national television the city was "now under the full occupation of Russia."
"They are trying to establish their own order; as far as I know, they have appointed some kind of commandant."
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's military intelligence chief, told Reuters that Ukraine was carrying out "a tactical regrouping" by pulling its forces out of Severodonetsk.
"Russia is using the tactic ... it used in Mariupol: wiping the city from the face of the earth," Budanov said. "Given the conditions, holding the defence in the ruins and open fields is no longer possible. So the Ukrainian forces are leaving for higher ground to continue the defence operations."
Russia's defence ministry said "as a result of successful offensive operations" Russian forces had established full control over Severodonetsk and the nearby town of Borivske.
Russia's Interfax news agency cited a representative of pro-Russian separatist fighters as saying Russian and pro-Russian forces had entered Lysychansk and fighting was taking place in urban areas there.
As Europe's biggest land conflict since the Second World War entered its fifth month, Russian missiles also rained down on western, northern and southern parts of the country.
At least three people were killed and others may have been buried in rubble in the town of Sarny, some 300 kilometres west of Kyiv, after rockets hit a carwash and a car repair facility, the head of the local regional military administration said.
G7 leaders are expected to demonstrate long-term support for Ukraine and discuss how to tighten the screws on Russia at a three-day summit in Germany starting on Sunday. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the leaders will agree on an import ban on new gold from Russia .
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will take part, said he feared Ukraine could face pressure to agree to a peace deal, and the consequences of Putin getting his way in Ukraine would be dangerous to international security.
Lysychansk 'was a horror,' evacuee says
In the Ukrainian-held Donbas town of Pokrovsk, Elena, an elderly woman in a wheelchair from Lysychansk, was among dozens of evacuees who arrived by bus from frontline areas.
"Lysychansk, it was a horror, the last week. Yesterday we could not take it any more," she said. "I already told my husband if I die, please bury me behind the house."
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops over the border on Feb. 24, unleashing a conflict that has killed thousands and uprooted millions. It has also stoked an energy and food crisis which is shaking the global economy.
Since Russia's forces were defeated in an assault on the capital Kyiv in March, it has shifted focus to the Donbas, an eastern region made up of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Severodonetsk and Lysychansk were the last major Ukrainian bastions in Luhansk.
The Russians crossed the river in force in recent days and have been advancing towards Lysychansk, threatening to encircle Ukrainians in the area.
The capture of Severodonetsk is likely to seen by Russia as vindication for its switch from its early, failed attempt at "lightning warfare" to a relentless, grinding offensive using massive artillery in the east.
Moscow says Luhansk and Donetsk, where it has backed uprisings since 2014, are independent countries. It demands Ukraine cede the entire territory of the two provinces to separatist administrations.
Ukrainian officials had never held out much hope of holding Severodonetsk indefinitely, but have hoped to exact a high enough price to exhaust the Russian army.
Missile strikes across the country
Ukraine's top general, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, wrote on the Telegram app on Saturday that U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, were now deployed and hitting targets in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
Asked about a potential counter-attack in the south, Budanov said Ukraine should begin to see results "from August."
Russian missiles also struck elsewhere overnight. "48 cruise missiles. At night. Throughout whole Ukraine," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. "Russia is still trying to intimidate Ukraine, cause panic."
The governor of Lviv region in western Ukraine said six missiles were fired from the Black Sea at a base near the border with Poland. Four hit the target, but two were destroyed.
The war has had a huge impact on the global economy and European security arrangements, driving up gas, oil and food prices, pushing the EU to reduce its heavy reliance on Russian energy and prompting Finland and Sweden to seek NATO membership.
