Russian forces on Friday continued attacking the cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk in Ukraine's eastern region of Luhansk to try to cut the area off from the rest of Ukraine, the region's governor said.
Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai told The Associated Press Russian forces were focused on the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway, which he said is the only road for evacuating people and delivering humanitarian supplies.
“The road is extremely important because it's the only connection to other regions of the country,” he said via email. “The Russians are trying to cut us off from it, to encircle the Luhansk region.”
Russian forces are constantly shelling the road from multiple directions, but Ukrainian armoured transports are still able to get through, Haidai added.
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One of Friday's attacks was on a school in Severodonetsk sheltering more than 200 people, many of them children. Three adults were killed, Haidai said on Telegram.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Friday, “the liberation of the Luhansk People's Republic is nearing completion."
Meanwhile, Russia's defense chief said that the country's forces have taken full control of the steel plant in Mariupol that was the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the city.
That would mark the end of a nearly three-month siege that reduced much of Mariupol to ruins and left over 20,000 people feared dead.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to President Vladimir Putin on Friday that the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol has been “completely liberated” from Ukrainian fighters.
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There is no immediate confirmation from Ukraine.
