The UK Ministry of Defense confirmed that “Ukrainian forces have recaptured parts of the city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine from the hands of Russian forces”, noting that “recent intelligence indicates that Russian forces still control the city’s eastern suburbs”. And he believed that “Russia’s big plan is aimed at separating Severodonetsk from the north and south.”

And she confirmed in a daily military intelligence report that “Russian forces made progress in the southern regions of the Popasny direction during May, but their advance was disrupted last week,” and explained that “heavy Russian bombardments near the city of Izyum indicate that Russia is preparing to resume the offensive in the “North” direction.

The report stated that “Russia must achieve a breakthrough in one of these areas, translate achievements at the tactical level into successes at the operational level, and make progress towards its political goal of controlling the entire Donetsk region.”

Russia now controls much of the Donbass in eastern Ukraine and the coastal city of Mariupol in the country’s southeast, more than a hundred days after launching its own military operation in Ukraine.

Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the city of Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region “came under the control of the Russian army” after intense fighting with Ukrainian troops was concentrated in recent days, as well as control of most of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, eastern Ukraine.