Russian and pro-Russian forces entered Lyssychansk on Saturday and "
street fighting
" is now taking place in this neighboring town of Sieverodonetsk, a strategic lock in eastern Ukraine in the process of being taken by Moscow, separatists said .
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"
People's militia of the Lugansk People's Republic and the Russian army have entered the city of Lysychansk
," a representative of the pro-Russian separatists, Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Marochko, said on Telegram.
“
Some businesses in the city have already been taken.
Street fights are taking place there now
,” he added.
This announcement, which could not be independently confirmed immediately, comes as Russian forces and their separatist allies have gained ground in recent days in this area which has been the scene of fierce clashes, including artillery, since Several weeks.
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Ukrainian forces were thus ordered on Friday to withdraw from the city of Sieverodonetsk.
The capture of these two strongholds would complete the control of Moscow and the separatists over the region of Lugansk, one of the two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, and would allow them to project more easily then towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, West.
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