Ukrainian troops have retreated from key city Severodonetsk so they could continue battling Russian forces in a strategic move.
After weeks of the bloodiest house-to-house fighting so far in the war Kyiv’s military pulled back as a major assault by their comrades was underway on Russian-held Kherson.
Apart from the city of Lysychansk the Ukraine withdrawal means Russia now controls the whole of Luhansk region - leaving just Donetsk to conquer in Donbas.
The mainly Russian-speaking region is a massive priority for Russian President Vladimir Putin who imposed a weekend deadline on troops to take Luhansk.
Donbas - comprising Luhanks and Donetsk - has been a target for Russian-backed separatists since the post Maidan revolution of 2014.
But the latest Russian victory may be hollow as Ukraine’s military was making a massive incursion last night into the strategically important Kherson port in the south.
The Black Sea port has been occupied by Russian forces since the beginning of the invasion but has been marked with civil uprisings and armed resistance.
Yesterday (Fri) a senior Russian-imposed official was killed there and two of Moscow’s soldiers were shot dead and one wounded in a shooting at a cafe earlier in the week.
Dmitry Savluchenko, part of the Russian Kherson administration, was killed in a car bombing yesterday and there have been other targeted car bombings.
So far since the February 24 invasion almost 35,000 Russian troops have died after facing a ferocious resistance from Ukraine’s military.
It is believed Putin's weekend deadline to take Luhansk has thrown attack plans out of sync for his commanders as many troops have been reassigned to the region, leaving areas like Kherson vulnerable to a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Moscow has tried desperately and failed to stop a constant influx of western-supplied weaponry and ammunition to Ukraine’s troops, the US revealed.
US defence officials hope a massive supply of long-range artillery systems sent into Ukraine will be a game changer in Kyiv’s struggle against Russian in the east.
One official, unnamed, claimed the pullback by Ukraine from Severodonetsk was a strategically wise move as they can build up a better defence.
The source said: “In moving the Ukrainian armed forces from Severodonetsk back, what they are doing it putting themselves in a position where they can better defend themselves.”
Britain is playing a key role in getting weapons to Ukraine via a hub in Germany, using land, sea and air but the many routes in are top secret.
Yesterday after repeated demands to the west for more weapons Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said medium-range American rocket launchers had arrived.
The High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) are hoped to be a game-changer in the war as they are precision-guided but local troops have had to get three weeks of training on their use and they have to be moved up to the front line.
And it emerged a staggering 18,871 Russian war crimes have been registered with Ukrainian prosecutors so far.
Prosecutors are actively trying to hunt down the assets and property of those who are in Russia as many of them are in the Kremlin leadership or military.
