LONDON: Russian military has totally evacuated from northern Ukraine to Belarus and Russia, according to the UK Ministry of Defence's latest update on Friday.

"At least part of these forces will be moved to east Ukraine to fight in Donbas," the ministry warned, referring to the separatist territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. Many of these units will also require "major replenishing" before being able to deploy further east, according to the report. Any mass redeployment from the north is expected to take at least a week, according to the Ministry's Twitter update.

Russian shelling of cities in Ukraine's "east and south" has continued, according to the report, and Russian soldiers have advanced further south from the strategically significant city of Izyum, which remains under Moscow's control.

After evacuating its forces from the area around Kiev in the north, Russia's major effort is now focused on eastern Ukraine, according to a BBC report.

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