Ukraine says everything being done to defend Donbas from Russian onslaught

Pro-Russian separatists said Friday they had captured the town of Lyman between Severodonetsk and Kramatorsk, on the road to the key cities still under Kyiv’s control

 Ukraine has said it is doing “everything” to defend Donbas, where an intensifying Russian offensive is prompting Kyiv’s forces to consider a strategic retreat from some key areas to avoid being surrounded.

Russia is waging an all-out war for the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions that make up Donbas – Ukraine’s industrial heartland where President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of carrying out a “genocide”.

In his daily address to Ukrainians, Zelensky said the Russians had “concentrated maximum artillery, maximum reserves in Donbas”.

“There are missile strikes and aircraft attacks – everything,” he said.

“We are protecting our land in the way that our current defence resources allow,” he added. “We are doing everything to increase them.”

Pro-Russian separatists said Friday they had captured the town of Lyman between Severodonetsk and Kramatorsk, on the road to the key cities still under Kyiv’s control.

Russian forces are also closing in on Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Lugansk province, with conflicting reports about the extent of their advance.