War in Ukraine: Latest developments

KYIV, UKRAINE: Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

– Eastern region falls –

Ukrainian forces withdraw from the strategic eastern city of Lysychansk, handing Russia control of a large part of the industrial Donbas region that it has vowed to “liberate”.

The Ukrainian army says the decision to withdraw from the last city in the Lugansk area of Donbas that was still under government control was taken “in order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders” in the face of superior Russian firepower.

Lysychansk is the second Donbas city to fall in less than two weeks, after the neighbouring city of Severodonetsk. Russia’s victory in Lugansk frees up its forces to press deeper into neighbouring Donetsk.

– Deaths in Donetsk –

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian shelling killed six people in the city of Sloviansk, including a nine-year-old girl, as the battle for the Donbas moves west to Donetsk.

Local authorities say two more people were killed and three injured in a strike at the weekend on the town of Dobropillia, just southwest of Sloviansk.

Tetyana Ignachenko, a spokeswoman for the Donetsk region, urges residents to flee the area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin went to war in Ukraine over what he called the genocidal threat to Russian speakers in the Donbas, where pro-Russian separatists have been at war with Kyiv since 2014.

– Donors discuss ‘Marshall Plan’ –

Leaders from dozens of countries, international organisations and the private sector gather in the Swiss city of Lugano to discuss plans to rebuild Ukraine, even as the fighting continues.

Western leaders say Ukraine needs a “Marshall Plan”, a reference to the huge economic rescue plan devised by the United States to rebuild Europe after World War II.

Zelensky says the work to rebuild areas liberated from Russian forces or damaged by the war is “really colossal”.

– Ukraine receives 2024 Olympics boost –

International Olympic Committee head Thomas Bach vows the Ukrainian flag will “fly high” at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Speaking during a visit to Kyiv, Bach pledges to triple IOC funding for Ukrainian athletes to ensure they can compete.

Zelensky says 89 athletes and coaches have died in the war and 13 more are being held prisoner by Russian forces.

The IOC has recommended that international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes but Russia is not currently banned from competing in the 2024 Olympics.

– Ukraine attacked border city: Russia –

Russia accuses Kyiv of firing three missiles at the city of Belgorod near the Ukraine border in strikes that killed at least three people at the weekend.

“Russian anti-aircraft defences shot down three Tochka-U cluster missiles launched by Ukrainian nationalists against Belgorod,” says Russia’s defence ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov.

-AFP