Ukraine Russia Conflict: Russians focus on Luhansk city in Donbas assault

Russian forces are bombarding the east Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk as they try to capture more of the Donbas region.

Serhii Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, the province where Severodonetsk is located, said the Kremlin was “engaging in a scorched-earth approach” to destroy the city. He added that the Russians were indiscriminately shelling it.

The bombardment came as the Polish president Andrzej Duda became the first foreign leader to address the Ukrainian parliament.

On a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, he said: “Unfortunately, in Europe there have also been disturbing voices in recent times demanding that Ukraine yield to Putin’s demands.

Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched its invasion of Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, Ukraine has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that would involve handing over territory to Russia, as Moscow intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region. Zelenskiy has extended Ukraine’s martial law for three months through to 23 August. Ukraine’s parliament also banned the symbols “Z” and “V”, used by Russia’s military to promote its war in Ukraine, but agreed to Zelenskiy’s call to allow their use for educational or historic purposes. Also, YouTube has taken down more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine for violating content guidelines, including removal of videos that referred to the invasion as a “liberation mission”.