Residents have been told to leave Ukraine’s eastern city of Slovyansk, a day after two people were killed in a Russian attack on a market. Civilians boarded minibuses on Wednesday morning as Russian forces advanced from the north and east.
UK defence intelligence said there was a “realistic possibility” the battle for Slovyansk would be the next key contest in the struggle for the Donbas.
Russian forces were likely to be 16km (10 miles) north of the city, it said.
Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the Russians had turned the entire Donetsk region into a hotspot where it was dangerous for a civilian to remain. “I call on everyone to evacuate, evacuation saves lives,” he said on his social media feed.
Russia switched its focus to Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in March, after a failed bid to capture the capital Kyiv. It has taken control of Luhansk region, to the north and east of Slovyansk, and has now pushed on to the rest of Donetsk. The industrial Donbas embraces Donetsk and Luhansk. Russian commentators said the fall of the last city in Luhansk had cleared the way for an advance towards towns to the west and south.
Credit: bbc.com
