Ukraine has staged a counterattack on the frontline city of Sievierodonetsk and recaptured a fifth of the city it had previously lost to the Russian invaders, according to the head of the region.
Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk, said Russian forces were giving up recent gains in the city, as reports also emerged of foreign fighters joining the battle for the easternmost city held by Kyiv in the fiercely contested Donbas.
The governor told Ukrainian television that Russia had “previously managed to capture most of the city” – but added in a tweet that the military had pushed them back by 20%. “They are really suffering huge losses,” he said.
The claims are hard to verify amid the heavy fighting. The Russians have concentrated their forces on trying to surround and capture the city in the past two weeks, advancing at a rate of 500 metres to a kilometre a day.