The Latest Breaking News from Sievierodonetsk

Multiple air strikes have hit Ukraine as EU leaders gathered in Germany for the international G7 summit

Ukraine has ordered the withdrawal of its troops from Sievierodonetsk, with the foreign minister insisting retreating from battle “doesn’t mean losing the war”.

After weeks of ferocious fighting, Ukrainian forces will retreat from a besieged city in the country's east to avoid encirclement, a regional governor said Friday. The city of Sievierodonetsk, the administrative center of the Luhansk region, has faced relentless Russian bombardment.

Ukrainian troops will "have to be withdrawn" from the mostly Russian-occupied battleground city of Sievierodonetsk, the regional governor said on television on Friday.

The Russian soldiers had also placed grenades around the outside of a Ukrainian hospital with tripwires installed in a circle as a means of defence - but a stray goat triggered tripwires and injured troops

Russian forces advancing towards the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk are putting increasing pressure on the surrounding region, including the twin city of Sievierodonetsk, Britain's defence ministry said on Thursday.

Russian forces have captured the settlements of Loskutivka and Rai-Oleksandrivka south of Ukraine's cities of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk, which are the focus of the Russian offensive in the region, Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Thursday.

Ukraine became a candidate to join the European Union on Thursday, a bold geopolitical step triggered by Russia's invasion that Kyiv and Brussels hailed as an "historic moment".

Russian forces continue to pound the major city of Kharkiv as Ukraine’s president hails an expected offer of EU candidate status for his battle-weary nation.