Kyiv, July 3 (UNI) Both Ukraine and Russia have claimed that they have control over Ukraine’s eastern city of Lysychansk, BBC reported on Sunday.
Ukraine has said that its forces are resisting intense Russian shelling there but insists the city has not fallen.
However, Russian-backed separatists say they have successfully entered the city and reached its centre.
Russian media showed videos of separatist or Russian forces apparently parading through the streets, with a tweeted video of the Soviet flag allegedly being placed on the city’s ruined administrative centre, but that has not been verified.
It is the last Ukrainian-held city in Luhansk, part of the industrial Donbas region. Russia captured the nearby city of Severodonetsk last month.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haida, said there had been no let-up in the assault on Lysychansk, with Russian forces approaching the besieged city from all sides, with Rodion Miroshnik, ambassador to Russia of the pro-Moscow breakaway Luhansk People’s Republic, claiming that Lysychansk had been “brought under control” but was “not yet liberated”.
Images of Chechen Russian soldiers inside the city were shared by defence blogger Rob Lee.