KIEV: According to media sources, the situation in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk area "remains challenging" because "the Russian army is attempting to break through our defence line from all directions," said the regional leader Serhiy Haidai.

As per BBC report, Haidai told a Ukraine TV station on Thursday morning that the Russians' main target was the city of Severodonetsk.   "However, they didn't have any success there overnight." They control the majority of the city, but not all of it, as they stated before, said Haidai. Fighting continues, and our lads launched counter-attacks yesterday, forcing the enemy back on certain streets and capturing a number of captives," he said. Haidai referred to the land still under Ukrainian control as a "fortress," which he estimated to be around 5% of the Luhansk region.

Russian troops, who are also attempting to advance to Severodonetsk's twin city of Lysychansk, are incurring huge losses in personnel and armoury, according to Haidai, but are bringing reinforcements from other battlefields.

The easternmost cities still in Ukrainian control are Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, twin cities on either side of the Siverskyi Donets river. Lysychansk is located on the right bank of the river, which has acted as a natural barrier to the Russian advance thus far.

Russia has already taken control of the majority of Severodanetsk, where days of furious street warfare have raged. According to the BBC, Ukrainian officials have not excluded out retreating from the city and relocating to the more strategically located Lysychansk.

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