The head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said on Tuesday evening that Russian forces had taken the eastern Donbass town of Svitlodarsk, from where Ukrainian forces had withdrawn.
“
Today, May 24, the Russian army entered Svitlodarsk in the Donetsk region.
Russian flags have already been hoisted there,”
the governor said, as pro-Russian channels showed footage of the Russian flag hoisted above the city’s administrative building on Telegram.
“
No more than 30% of the population has left the city.
About 10,000 civilians remained there
,” he estimated, saying however that it was “
not a retreat, but a regrouping”
of the Ukrainian armed forces
.
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