- Lysychansk is the last major city in Ukraine’s Lugansk region.
- It is located across the river from neighbouring Severodonetsk, which Russia seized last week.
- UNESCO has inscribed Ukraine’s tradition of cooking borshch soup on its endangered cultural heritage list.
Fighting raged Saturday for Ukraine’s strategically important Lysychansk, as Kiev denied that Moscow-backed Pro-Russia had encircled the eastern city.
Clashes have been intense in Lysychansk, the last major city in Ukraine’s Lugansk region, located across the river from neighbouring Severodonetsk, which Russia seized last week.
The city’s capture would allow Russian forces to push deeper into the battleground Donbas region, which has become the focus of their offensive since failing to capture Kyiv after invading in late February.
“Fighting rages around Lysychansk… The city has not been encircled and is under control of the Ukrainian army,” Ruslan Muzytchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Guard, said on Ukrainian television.
Earlier in the day, Andrei Marotchko, a spokesman for the separatist forces, told the TASS news agency: “Lysychansk is completely encircled.”
The announcements come as missiles continue to rain down across Ukraine, killing dozens.
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