Ukrainian army to leave battered city to avoid encirclement

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After weeks of ferocious fighting, Ukrainian forces will retreat from a besieged city in the country's east to avoid encirclement, a regional governor said Friday.

The city of Sievierodonetsk, the administrative center of the Luhansk region, has faced relentless Russian bombardment. Ukrainian troops fought the Russians in house-to-house battles before retreating to a huge chemical factory on the city's edge, where they holed up in its sprawling underground structures.

In recent days, Russian forces have made gains around Sievierodonetsk and the neighboring city of Lysychansk, on a steep bank across the river, in a bid to encircle Ukrainian forces.

Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said that the Ukrainian troops have been given the order to leave Sievierodonetsk to prevent that.

“Regrettably, we will have to pull our troops out of Sievierodonetsk,” Haidai told The Associated Press. “It makes no sense to stay at the destroyed positions, and the number of killed in action has been growing.”

He said that the Ukrainian soldiers have "received the order to retreat from Sievierodonetsk to new positions in fortified areas and continue resistance from there.”

Haidai noted that Ukrainian troops still remain in Sievierodonetsk, facing massive Russian bombardment that has destroyed 80% of buildings.

Haidai said the Russians were also advancing toward Lysychansk from Zolote and Toshkivka, adding that Russian reconnaissance units conducted forays on the city edges but were driven out by its defenders.

The governor added that a bridge on a highway leading to Lysychansk was badly damaged in a Russian airstrike and became unusable for trucks.

The Russian Defense Ministry declared Friday that four Ukrainian battalions and a unit of “foreign mercenaries” totaling about...