The collapse of Lysychans'k will bring Russia closer to achieving its goal of taking over Donbus.
However, Ukrainian troops admitted on Sunday that Russian troops were approaching, but claimed to still control the city. Serhiy Hayday, head of the military junta in the Luhansk region, said: While the Russian troops were suffering losses, they were "stubbornly advancing" in Lysychans'k.
"Russians have settled in Lysychans'k district and the city is on fire. The occupiers have probably deployed their entire army to Lysychans'k. They have a mysterious and brutal tactic. "Attacked," Hayday said on Sunday.
Pro-Russian separatists in the region have already won the battle for Lysychans'k. Self-declared Russian-backed militias in the People's Republic of Luhansk (LPR) claimed on Saturday that Lysychans'k was surrounded by Russian troops.
LPR militia officer Andrei Marochko said the city was "freed from Ukrainian nationalists" and "the flag of victory has already been set up" near Lysychans'k. Stated.
A video shared by the Russian state news agency Leah Novosti on Saturday is intended to show the inhabitants of the old Soviet Union flag on the corrupt monument of Rishchansik.
The Institute for the Study of War said Russia is likely to establish control over the rest of the territory of the Luhansk region in the coming days. Later, the institute said in a recent update that Russian troops are likely to focus on the Ukrainian location of Siversk, west of Lysychans'k, before directing the endorheic to Slovyansk and Bakumut.
The Donetsk junta said on Sunday that Russian troops continued to bombard Slovyansk and Bakumut, killing at least six people in a night attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said cities in the Luhansk region are "earthquakes" of hostilities. In his nightly speech on Saturday, Zelensky admitted that more than 2,600 Ukrainian cities and towns were under Russian control.
"Russian troops continued to launch missiles in our city," Zelensky told people, "helping the army, helping volunteers, helping everyone who was left alone at this time." Use your contact information to "disseminate the truth about the war and the crimes of the occupiers of our land."
Meanwhile, the city's exiled mayor Ivan Fedrov said in a video address the morning that Ukrainian troops had destroyed a Russian military base in occupied Melitopoli in southern Ukraine earlier on Sunday. Said.
Melitopol came under Russian control in early March, a few weeks after the Kremlin invaded Ukraine.
According to Fedrov, the Ukrainian army "fired more than 30 shots at the military base alone" and made it "inoperable".
"Now the whole city is covered in smoke. This lasts three to four hours. The warehouses on the territory of the transport airbase are on fire," Fedrov added.
Evgeny Baritzky, head of the Russian council in the Zaporizhia region, said in a telegram post on Sunday that "the shell fell on the territory of the airfield" and "no casualties". Stated.
Russian national news agency RIA Novosti also confirmed the attack, reporting that Ukraine had attacked the Aviagorodok region of Melitopol's, but did not specify what it targeted.
