Ukrainian troops have “almost left” the strategic frontline city of Severodonetsk, the mayor has said, after holding out for weeks against advancing Russian forces.
“Unfortunately, they have almost left the city,” Mr Oleksandr Stryuk said on national television.
Ukraine is pulling its troops from the ruined city of Severodonetsk after weeks of street fighting and bombardment, in a significant gain for Russia as it grinds on in its offensive in the eastern Donbas region.
Earlier this week, the governor of the Luhansk region said Ukrainian troops may have to abandon Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the twin cities at the centre of the fiercest fighting, in the face of overwhelming Russian assaults.
Follow the latest updates below.
01:58 PM
Street clashes taking place in Lysychansk, pro-Russian separatists claim
Russian troops and allies have entered Lysychansk and street fighting is under way in the eastern Ukrainian city neighbouring its strategic twin Severodonetsk, pro-Moscow separatists have said.
“The people’s militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic and the Russian army have entered the city of Lysychansk… Street fighting is currently taking place,” a representative for pro-Russian separatists, Andrei Marochko, said on Telegram.
01:22 PM
Ukraine’s MFA shares latest figures on Russian losses
01:21 PM
Russian protests over Ukraine and Moldova EU bids show weakness, Kyiv says
Russia’s protests over the EU giving Ukraine and Moldova candidate status show Moscow’s weakness, Ukraine’s top diplomat said on Saturday.
“After decades of lost policies based on aggression, coercion and lack of respect, all that Russia can do now is to spit threats against other states,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. “All it does is show Russia’s weakness.”
“We are by the side of the government and the people of our friend Moldova in the face of renewed threats coming from Moscow,” he said.
The European Union on Thursday said it was granting official candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.
On Friday, Russia’s foreign ministry condemned the decision as a move to “contain Russia” geopolitically.
12:48 PM
Russia claims its troops have killed ‘up to 80’ Polish fighters in Ukraine
Russia has claimed that its troops have killed “up to 80” Polish fighters in “precision strikes” in eastern Ukraine.
“Up to 80 Polish mercenaries, 20 armoured combat vehicles and eight Grad multiple rocket launchers were destroyed in precision strikes on the Megatex zinc factory in Konstantinovka” in the Donetsk region, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement, which could not be independently verified.
The region, claimed by Russia, has been the theatre of combat since Moscow began its offensive in Ukraine in late February.
The Russian ministry did not state when the strikes took place. In its statement, the ministry added that “more than 300 Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries as well as 35 heavy weapons were destroyed in the space of a day in Mykolaiv,” a Black Sea city in southern Ukraine.
11:40 AM
Ukraine stands with Moldova against threats from Russia, country’s foreign minister says
Ukraine stands with Moldova in response to renewed threats from Russia, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday, after Moscow warned of negative consequences over the two countries becoming candidates for EU membership.
“We stand with the people and the government of friendly Moldova amid renewed threats coming from Moscow. All Russia has left is spitting out threats at other states after decades of failed policies based on aggression, coercion, and disrespect,” Mr Kuleba said on Twitter.
We stand with the people and the government of friendly Moldova amid renewed threats coming from Moscow. All Russia has left is spitting out threats at other states after decades of failed policies based on aggression, coercion, and disrespect. This only shows Russia’s weakness.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) June 25, 2022
11:20 AM
Ukraine already using US-supplied rocket systems in conflict, top general says
US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems are already working and hitting targets in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, the country’s top general said on Saturday.
“Artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine skillfully hit certain targets – military targets of the enemy on our, Ukrainian, territory,” Chief of Ukraine’s General Staff Valeriy Zaluzhnyi wrote on the Telegram app.
11:06 AM
The MoD’s latest update
10:57 AM
Ukraine says Russia aiming to drag Belarus into war
Ukraine’s intelligence service said on Saturday that Russia was aiming to drag Belarus into the war, after missiles were fired from Belarusian territory into a northern border region.
“Today’s strike is directly linked to Kremlin efforts to pull Belarus as a co-belligerent into the war in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian intelligence service, which is part of the defence ministry, said on Telegram.
10:28 AM
Russia removes Polish flag from Soviet massacre memorial
Russian authorities have removed a Polish flag from a memorial commemorating the thousands of Poles killed by the Soviet Union, amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Warsaw over the Ukraine conflict.
Historians and visitors to the Katyn memorial in western Russia’s Smolensk region noted the flag’s disappearance on social media on Friday.
The mayor of Smolensk city confirmed the removal on Friday evening, publishing a photo showing the Russian flag flying alone at the memorial’s entrance.
“There cannot be Polish flags on Russian monuments. Even less so after the frankly anti-Russian comments by Polish political leaders,” Andrei Borisov said on social media platform VKontakte.
“The culture ministry of the Russian Federation made the right decision by removing the Polish flag. Katyn is a Russian memorial.”
10:26 AM
The latest pictures from Ukraine
09:55 AM
Chernihiv comes under ‘massive bombardment
Ukraine’s northern border region of Chernihiv came under “massive bombardment” fired from the territory of Russia’s ally Belarus, the Ukrainian army said in a statement on Saturday.
“Around 5:00 o’clock in the morning (0200 GMT) the Chernihivregion suffered a massive bombardment by missiles. Twenty rockets, fired from the territory of Belarus and from the air, targeted the village of Desna,” Ukraine’s northern military command wrote on Facebook, adding that there were no reports of victims so far.
09:22 AM
Russian shelling hits chemical plant where civilians trapped, says Ukraine
Russia launched artillery and air strikes on the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk on Saturday, hitting a chemical plant where hundreds of civilians were trapped, a Ukrainian official said.
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said Russian forces attacked Sievierodentsk’s industrial zone and also attempted to enter and blockade Lysychansk.
“There was an air strike at Lysychansk. Severodonetsk was hit by artillery,” Mr Gaidai said on the Telegram messaging app, adding the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk and the villages of Synetsky and Pavlograd and others were shelled.
He made no mention of casualties at the Azot chemical plant and Reuters could not immediately verify the information.
09:14 AM
Russian missiles rain down on military sites across Ukraine, local officials say
Dozens of Russian missiles rained down on military facilities in western and northern Ukraine on Saturday, local officials said, as Europe’s biggest land conflict since World War Two entered its fifth month.
The governor of the Lviv region in western Ukraine, Maxim Kozytskyi, said in a video posted online that six missiles were fired from the Black Sea at the Yavoriv base, with four hitting the base and two being intercepted and destroyed before hitting their target.
Vitaliy Bunechko, governor of the Zhytomyr region in the north of the country, said strikes on a military target killed at least one soldier.
“Nearly 30 missiles were launched at one military infrastructure facility very near to the city of Zhytomyr,” said Bunechko, adding that nearly 10 missiles had been intercepted and destroyed.
In the Chernihiv region, also in the north, governor Vyacheslav Chaus said the small town of Desna had come under “massed” rocket strikes on Saturday morning. Chaus did not specify what had been hit, but said there had been “infrastructure damage.” There were no casualties, he added.
