Russia seeks to surround Lysychansk, capture Sievierodonetsk, Kyiv says

Russian forces seek to surround the embattled city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine and are mounting assaults on its sister city of Sievierodonetsk to establish full control, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's spokesperson said on Friday.

The region's governor said earlier that Ukrainian troops would "have to be withdrawn" from Sievierodonetsk and that they had been ordered to take up new positions.

Defesce Ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Motuzyanyk declined to comment on the governor's remarks and told reporters at a briefing in Kyiv that the information was "closed" to the public.