Ukraine has told its forces to withdraw from Sievierodonetsk, an eastern city that’s been the center of fighting for weeks.
The military concluded that Ukrainian troops were at risk of being encircled by Russian invaders who’ve battered their positions over and over.
“Remaining in positions that have been relentlessly shelled for months just doesn’t make sense,” Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Friday on Ukrainian television.
The soldiers will retreat to new positions as Russians target the nearby city of Lysychansk.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is focusing his unprovoked assault on Ukraine in the eastern Donbas region after failing to take Kyiv early in the war that began Feb.