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People walk past part of a rocket that sits wedged in the ground in Lysychansk. Leo Correa via PA

Ukrainian army announces retreat from Lysychansk

Ukrainian presidnet Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously denied Russian claims that the city had been captured.

LAST UPDATE | 3 Jul 2022

THE UKRAINIAN ARMY has said its soldiers had retreated from the strategic eastern city of Lysychansk after weeks of fierce fighting with Russian troops.

“In order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw,” the army said in a statement, pointing to Russia’s superiority in numbers and equipment.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously denied Moscow’s claim that Russian troops had captured Ukraine’s strategic eastern city of Lysychansk.

“We cannot say today that Lysychansk is under (Russian) control. There is fighting on the outskirts,” Zelenskyy told a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Zelensky warned, however, of “risks” that the Lugansk region, where Lysychansk was the last major city in Ukrainian hands, “will be completely occupied” by Moscow.

The mayor of Sloviansk, 75 kilometres (45 miles) west of Lysychansk, reported on Sunday that “many” people were killed in fresh bombardment by the advancing Russian forces.

The development came as Belarus said it had intercepted missiles fired by Kyiv and Russia reported that Ukraine launched three cluster missiles at Belgorod, killing four people.

Lysychansk had been the last major city in the Lugansk area of the Donbas still in Ukrainian hands and its capture would signal a deeper push into the eastern region, Moscow’s focus since retreating from Kyiv.

On Saturday, there were conflicting reports about Lysychansk’s status with Ukraine denying Moscow’s claim to have encircled the entire city, located across the river from neighbouring Severodonetsk which Russian forces seized last week.

“Sergei Shoigu has informed the commander in chief of the Russian armed forces, Vladimir Putin, of the liberation of the People’s Republic of Lugansk,” the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.

A few minutes prior to the announcement, which AFP has not verified, a spokesman for the Russian defence ministry had said fighting was ongoing in Lysychansk and that Ukrainian forces were “completely” surrounded.

In Siversk, 30 kilometres west of Lysychansk, there was overnight shelling, residents and an official told AFP.

“It was intense and it was shooting from all sides,” said a woman sheltering in a cellar.

Russian city struck

Russia’s claim of a breakthrough came as Moscow said its anti-aircraft defences shot down three Tochka-U cluster missiles launched by “Ukrainian nationalists” against Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border.

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 11 residential buildings and 39 houses were damaged.

Russia has previously accused Kyiv of conducting strikes on Russian soil, particularly in the Belgorod region.

Separately, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko accused Kyiv of “provoking” his country and said his army intercepted missiles fired at his country by Ukrainian forces “around three days ago”.

Belarus is a long-term Russian ally that supported the invasion of Ukraine, and has been accused by Kyiv of launching its own attacks on Ukrainian territory.

But Lukashenko denied any involvement in a recent cross-border incident, which would represent an escalation of the conflict.

“As I said more than a year ago, we do not intend to fight in Ukraine,” he was quoted as saying by state news agency Belta on Saturday.

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    Mute Elrond Rivendell
    Favourite Elrond Rivendell
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 8:14 AM

    Lukashenko is Mussolini to Putin’s Hitler. Belarus claiming Ukraine attacked it when Ukaine is in full reverse is a lie designed to bring Belarus in to the war in order to tie up Ukraine’s forces and allow Russia to consolidate its gains in the East and South while also allowing Russia to regroup for the next phase of the war.

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    Mute Jim Smith
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 1:35 PM

    @Elrond Rivendell: That doesn’t make any sense. According to the analysts, Lukashenko couldn’t enter the war if he wanted to. There is too great a risk that an effective Belarusian organized armed force might march on Lukashenko rather that fight their Ukrainian ‘brothers’.

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    Mute Paul Shepherd
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 2:10 PM

    @Elrond Rivendell: the Belarus army is relatively small and probably even more shoddy and badly equipped than their Russian counterparts. Their main function is the threat of repression against dissent rather than fighting a conventional war. Would be ironic though if they did rebel against Lukashenko and left Putin with another anti Moscow regime on his doorstep.

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    Mute Elrond Rivendell
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 3:28 PM

    @Jim Smith: There is also the risk that the weak Belarusian army would not be able to stand up the inevitable backlash from Moscow if they did that.

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    Mute E.J. Murray
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 6:58 PM

    @Paul Shepherd: — The Belarusian troops must be a bit miffed if it’s true that each unit has been landed with a Russian officer to lead them. Belarus could do with a coup.

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    Mute Mike Dunne
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 12:14 PM

    It’s only a matter of time before NATO gets directly involved with this war, then the situation will get very concerning.

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    Mute Fintan O'Halloran
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 12:30 PM

    @Mike Dunne: That would be rather unlikely

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    Mute wormtubes
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 12:38 PM

    @Mike Dunne: That’s unlikely but possible. Russia would crush NATO and that would be without the support of China and North Korea (they already have that support) :(

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    Mute Elrond Rivendell
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 12:41 PM

    @wormtubes: Russia wouldn’t stand a chance against NATO in conventionalwar. Putin knows this which is why he threatens nuclear at every chance.

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    Mute Terry Brophy
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 1:33 PM

    @wormtubes: eh Putin’s hollowed out army ran from Kyiv with its tail between its legs but yeah they’d crush NATO….

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    Mute Michael Nolan
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 3:21 PM

    @Mike Dunne: that would be the worst thing that could happen … Russia’s main concern is NATO on their boarders…Russia tried to do that with the Cuban missile crisis back in the day and the unfortunate Cubans where sent back to the stone age for forty years by the Americans….the 2 country’s don’t like neighbors with loads of nuclear weapons on their doorstep

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    Mute Michael Nolan
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 3:26 PM

    @Elrond Rivendell: Russia must have at this stage 20,000 tanks all along borders..a mock war was devised twenty years age the outcome was that they could lsteamroll across Europe in a blitzkrieg move and be in Paris in a month……no nice outcomes when it comes to war

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    Mute Ciaran
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 3:38 PM

    @Mike Dunne: will never happen. No nuclear power has ever been invaded and will never be.

    Sorry to say but the risk of nuclear war is far greater than whatever happens in Ukraine.

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    Mute Alan Richard Scott Jr.
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 7:17 PM

    @Mike Dunne: they won’t get involved unless nato article 5 is invoked to due to a attack on nato territory. Even then it’s up to each nato county to get the facts right and make a investigation into said incident before they invoke nato article 5.

    a trigger happy missile commander might launch a attack without direct orders from the Kremlin, so that’s my point, it could be accident or on purpose

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    Mute Elrond Rivendell
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 8:17 PM

    @Declan Gilsenan: Well that’s pure and unadulterated horse $hīţ. 1) Russia engaged in conflicts in Syria and now has the Assad regime as a client state. 2) Russia has interfered in Ukrainian affairs since independence. Explain how Ukraine had a pro-Russian president every year while only 17 or so percent of Ukraine are ethnic Russians? When Ukraine attempted to integrate with EU, Yanukovich signed an agreement making Ukraine dependent on Moscow. That’s what caused the revolution. 3) Nobody has identified who caused Maidan. It’s been well documented that Russia had special forces in the area and that some of the shooting came from positions occupied by Russian forces. 4) Look at Russian actions since then. A military annexation of Crimea and the fermentation of civil war in Donbas. Facts.

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    Mute Sean Minihane
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 8:25 PM

    @Declan Gilsenan: Russia dosent fight around the world eh. Syria, Afganistan, Central African Republic. And that’s not including all the wars they had on thier “borders”. Yes they do have an aircraft carrier. Russia has always been an aggresive war mongering state

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    Mute shligo boyzz
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 8:39 PM

    @Sean Minihane: they have one aircraft carrier and has to have a constant tug boat with it due to it breaking down so much hah

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    Mute Elrond Rivendell
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 9:35 PM

    @Declan Gilsenan: Let’s not forget that Russia occupied and oppressed half of Europe from 1945-1991. Guards its borders? Tell that to the people of Poznan, Prague and Budapest after they tried to shake off Russian rule. Tell that to the Poles who lived under both Soviet and Nazi occupation and saw no difference between them. Guards their borders? Back to your PC Putin trollbot.

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    Mute JG
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 12:01 PM

    Sure all we need now is for one of the NATO states to claim Belarus or Russia popped a missile onto their garden too… Now we’re talking a “full duck or no dinner” battle.

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    Mute Jim Smith
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 1:38 PM

    @JG: There would be more fact checking involved than if Zelensky something.

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    Mute Jim Smith
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 1:40 PM

    @Jim Smith: There would be more fact checking involved than if Zelensky said something.

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    Mute Jonathan O'Riordan
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 2:21 PM

    GTFOOU

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    Mute G man
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    Jul 3rd 2022, 3:07 PM

    Powerful photo

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