Russification

Ukrainian and Russian forces were fighting for "literally every metre" in Severodonetsk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as fighting intensified in an eastern region where the country's top commander said the land "is covered in blood".

Severodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk have been targeted for weeks as the last areas in the Lugansk region still under Ukrainian control.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were "holding on" in the flashpoint eastern city Severodonetsk where intense street battles with Russian troops could determine the fate of the Donbas region.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Ukrainians consider a tactical withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk

Ninety percent of Lugansk territory is under the Russian army's contorol, states the governor of that area in East Ukraine.
Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai says Russian forces strategic city in Luhansk area, Sievierodonetsk, is held under their control, while the industrial zone is still in the hands of the Ukrainian army, as well as neighboring Lysychansk.

Street fighting raged Tuesday for control of Ukraine's flashpoint city of Severodonetsk, with the situation changing "every hour", an official said, as Kiev warned its troops were outnumbered by Russian forces.

Just days ago, Moscow seemed close to taking the strategic industrial hub in the east but Ukrainian forces have managed to hold out.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Powerful explosions shook Kyiv

Powerful explosions were heard this morning in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Reuters reported. Eyewitnesses also reported smoke over the city.

In wheelchairs and on stretchers, in ambulances and on train station platforms, they wait. Medical workers pull out ramps and wheel the patients onto the specially equipped train that will carry them westwards, away from the fighting raging in eastern Ukraine.

After the confusing launch of the invasion, it seems that the Russian army is on the way to conquer the entire Donbas, where two self-proclaimed "people's republics" which Moscow recognized are situated.

Russian forces engaged in an all-out battle in eastern Ukraine have captured the strategic town of Lyman and surrounded a key industrial centre, Moscow has claimed.

But a Ukrainian official has denied that the city of Severodonetsk -- the focus of weeks of fierce fighting -- has been encircled, saying government troops had repelled Russian forces from its outskirts.

Hungary has imposed a state of emergency, and Viktor Orbn states that Budapest will stay away from the war.
Ursula von der Leyen called for talks with Moscow to enable the delivery of wheat, which was captured in Ukraine because Russia blocked the ports.