Ukrainian forces pull back from strategic city of Lysychansk

Ukrainian forces appeared to be pulling back from the city after Russian troops threatened to surround it after weeks of heavy fighting in Lysychansk and its surroundings.

WARSAW, Poland - Ukraine appeared to be pulling some troops and equipment out of Lysychansk as Russia-allied forces said Saturday they had advanced to the centre of the strategic city in eastern Ukraine after days of heavy fighting, according to Russian state media and interviews with Ukrainian troops. A spokesman for Ukraine's National Guard told local television channels that fierce fighting was underway but that the city remains under Ukrainian control. A soldier who had been stationed in Lysychansk said a major military withdrawal was taking place. Sergiy, a Ukrainian soldier who had been stationed inside Lysychansk, said that the machines and people have pulled out to the maximum in the last few days. He asked that his last name not be used for security reasons.

Lysychansk is the last city in Luhansk province that is still held by Ukraine. Its capture would not only give Moscow complete control of that resource-rich region, but it would also give Moscow s forces a base to regroup and mount offensives on cities to the southwest, notably Bakhmut, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Russian state news agency Tass said on Saturday that Russian backed separatists had entered the city and were advancing on the city centre. Apty Alaudinov, commander of a Chechen unit fighting for Russia, claimed in an interview to Russian state television that his troops had the city center under control, but added that there were still several points of resistance in the city. The claims were impossible to verify independently. A Ukrainian tank crew that had recently been rotated off the front said troops from their unit were still holding on in the city but Russian forces were slowly gaining ground. Lysychansk, a city where 100,000 people lived before the war, has been under blistering Russian artillery fire since Russian troops took over the neighboring city of Sievierodonetsk last month. The cities, which form one metropolitan area, are bordered by the Seversky Donets River.

Within a matter of days Russian forces were on the outskirts of Lysychansk, which sits on higher ground than most of the settlements around the city, and were pushing hard to seize a key refinery on its outskirts. On Friday, Russia s Defense Ministry said that its forces had taken control of the local oil refinery and reached the city limits. A video circulating on Saturday purported to show Russian forces and at least two civilians hoisting a Soviet flag inside Lysychansk s city park, a recreational area in the center of the city. The New York Times hasn't independently verified the video. Russian journalists were reporting from the center of Lysychansk on Saturday. A video report from the Izvestia news outlet showed the journalist in the city center, no firing was heard in the brief clip.