Russia has initiated an assault on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas area, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Following Mr Zelensky’s announcement that the fight for the Donbas had begun, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers battled along the eastern front line on Tuesday.

Russia is attempting to break through Ukrainian military positions throughout Ukraine’s east, according to Ukraine’s senior security officer, Oleksiy Danilov.

After Russia’s failure to conquer Kyiv, the attack was predicted. Following the failure of its attempt to take the capital, Moscow said that its troops will instead focus on eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed rebels have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. Luhansk is one of the most bitterly disputed districts, and its governor, Serhiy Hayday, claimed on Tuesday that the territory has been attacked from all sides.

He said that street fighting in Kreminna had caused Ukrainian soldiers to leave and reorganise, leaving Russian forces in command of the 18,000-strong eastern city.

Mr Hayday explained, “They moved in, but our defenders had to retire.” “Every metre of our defence line was being shelled by the Germans.”

Meanwhile, the important port city of Mariupol has been heavily shelled. Pro-Russian forces are said to have started an assault on Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks, where the city’s last defenders had been holding out for days. Ukraine claims that civilians and children are among those incarcerated at the facility, although pro-Russian leaders in the city deny this. Mariupol is a significant Russian goal that, if taken, would allow Russian soldiers to build a land bridge connecting the seized Crimean peninsula to separatist-held eastern Ukraine.