MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia’s defenSe ministry said on Saturday its troops have killed “up to 80” Polish fighters in “precision strikes” on the Megatex zinc factory in Konstantinovka, in the eastern Donetsk region.
The region, claimed by Russia, has been the theater of combat since Moscow began its operation in Ukraine in late February.
Ukraine’s intelligence service says Russia is aiming to drag Belarus into the war, after missiles were fired from Belarusian territory into a northern border region.
“Today’s strike is directly linked to Kremlin efforts to pull Belarus as a co-belligerent into the war in Ukraine,” Ukrainian intelligence says on Telegram.
Ukraine says it suffered a “massive bombardment” from inside neighboring Belarus, a Russian ally not officially involved in the conflict.
Ukrainian forces retreated from the strategic city of Severodonetsk after weeks of fierce fighting, a setback that could pave the way for Russia to seize a larger swath of eastern Ukraine.
Sergiy Gaiday, the governor of the Lugansk region, said Russian forces were advancing on the twin city of Lysychansk, which has been facing increasingly heavy Russian bombardment as Moscow pursues its offensive on eastern Ukraine.
“Remaining in positions that have been relentlessly shelled for months just doesn’t make sense,” says Gaiday, with 90 percent of the city damaged.
Capturing Severodonetsk and Lysychansk would give the Russians control of Lugansk, and allow them to push further into Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas.
The United States sought to play down the importance of Ukraine’s retreat from Severodonetsk, with the Pentagon saying it means a “very small, very incremental gain” for Russia.
“What (the Ukrainian troops) are doing is putting themselves in a position where they can better defend themselves,” a senior Pentagon official tells reporters.
South of Severodonetsk, Ukrainian soldiers also withdrew from the towns of Hirske and Zolote in the face of overwhelming Russian forces, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The eastern industrial hub of Severodonetsk has been the scene of weeks of street battles as outgunned Ukrainians put up a stubborn defense, and as Russians aim to consolidate power throughout the Donbas.
As the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War Two entered its fifth month, Russian missiles on Saturday rained down across Ukraine, hitting military facilities in the west and the north as well as a southern city.
Artillery and airstrikes also pounded the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.
“48 cruise missiles. At night. Throughout whole Ukraine,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. “Russia is still trying to intimidate Ukraine, cause panic and make people be afraid.”
Vitaly Kiselev, an official in the Interior Ministry of the separatist Luhansk People’s Republic told Russia’s TASS news agency that it would take another week
and a half to secure full control of Lysychansk.
The governor of Lviv region in western Ukraine said six missiles were fired from the Black Sea at the Yavoriv base near the border with Poland. Four hit the target but two were destroyed.
Vitaliy Bunechko, governor of the Zhytomyr region in the north of the country, said the strikes on a military target killed at least one soldier.
“Nearly 30 missiles were launched at one military infrastructure facility very near to the city of Zhytomyr,” said Bunechko, adding that nearly 10 missiles had been intercepted and destroyed.