Ukraine retreat in Donbas

After weeks of ferocious fighting, Ukrainian forces will retreat from a besieged city in the country’s east to avoid encirclement, a regional governor said Friday.

The city of Severodonetsk, the administrative center of the Luhansk region, has faced relentless Russian bombardment. Ukrainian troops fought the Russians in houseto-house battles before retreating to a chemical factory on the city’s edge.

In recent days, Russian forces have made gains around Severodonetsk and the neighboring city of Lysychansk, in a bid to encircle Ukrainian forces.

Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said that the Ukrainian troops have been given the order to leave Severodonetsk to prevent that.

“We will have to pull back our guys,” he said. “It makes no sense to stay at the destroyed positions, because the number of casualties in poorly fortified areas will grow every day.”

He said the Ukrainian forces have “received the order to retreat to new positions and continue fighting there” but didn’t give further details.

He said the Russians were also advancing toward Lysychansk from Zolote and Toshkivka, adding that Russian reconnaissance units conducted forays on the city edges but were driven back.

Following a botched attempt to capture Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in the early stage of the invasion that started Feb. 24, Russian forces shifted focus to the Donbas region, where Ukrainian forces have fought Moscowbacked separatists since 2014.

The Russian military controls about 95% of the Donbas’ Luhansk province and about half of neighboring Donetsk province.