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The governor of the eastern Ukrainian Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, today called on civilians to evacuate quickly from the city of Lisichansk, which is being attacked by the Russian army and separatist forces, Reuters reported.

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Gaidai said Lisichansk was suffering "catastrophic damage" from the Russian shelling.

"The situation in the city is very difficult," he added.

Gaidai did not say how many civilians remained in Lisichansk, which had a population of about 100,000 before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

On Saturday, Russian forces established full control of Severodonetsk, the city opposite Lisichansk, on the opposite bank of the Seversky Donets River.

Russia has said it has established full control over Severodonetsk

Now they are trying to block Lisichansk from the south with the help of artillery fire, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced today, quoted by Ukrinform.

Gaidai also said that the Ukrainian army had repulsed a Russian offensive near the village of Verkhnyokamyanka, a few kilometers southwest of Lisichansk, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.

The Ukrainian General Staff assured that this was how the encirclement of Lisichansk was prevented.

Several thousand Ukrainian servicemen remain in the strategically important city, which has been subjected to heavy air strikes and artillery fire by Russian forces, the DPA notes.

At the same time, a well-informed source told TASS that the forces of the separatist "Luhansk People's Republic" and Russian military units entered Lisichansk from five places simultaneously.

It is said that active battles are being fought in the streets and the circle around the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in the city is constantly tightening.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine