Ukraine war: Six key developments to know about from Tuesday
Ukrainian forces are today concentrating on defending Donetsk province in the eastern Donbas after Russia claimed to have taken control of neighbouring Luhansk.
The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces were now focusing their efforts on pushing toward the line of Siversk, Fedorivka and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, about half of which is controlled by Russia.
The Russian army has also intensified its shelling of the key Ukrainian strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, deeper in Donetsk.
On Monday, President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in Luhansk province and ordered his forces to continue their offensive in eastern Ukraine, as the five-month-long war entered a new phase.
It came a day after Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Lysychansk, their last remaining bulwark of resistance in the province.
Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, has come under heavy fire with missiles hitting the city and its outskirts every day as Russian forces move to take control of the Donbas, the country's eastern industrial heartland.
Soldiers in Ukraine's 228th battalion of the 127th brigade of the Kharkiv territorial defence team have been holding their positions on the outskirts, but have suffered casualties while under artillery fire.
Troops are managing to keep the Russian army at bay, for now, using high-tech drone technology to aim the US-donated M777 Howitzers.
Ukraine's Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said recently that the Russian forces were firing 10 times more ammunition than the Ukrainian military.
Meanwhile, Kharkiv's North Saltivka neighbourhood has been heavily damaged by Russian bombardment, and the few remaining residents face food shortages and are struggling to return to normal life.
Most of the apartment blocks
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