War in Ukraine: Recent Developments

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

Ukrainian forces are withdrawing from the strategic eastern city of Lysyhansk and handing over control of much of the industrial Donbass region to Russia, which it has vowed to “liberate”.

The Ukrainian army says the decision to withdraw from the last remaining state-controlled city in the Donbass region, Lugansk, was made “to save the lives of Ukrainian defenders in the face of superior Russian firepower.”

Lysyhansk is the second Donbass city to fall in less than two weeks, after neighboring Severodonetsk. Russia’s victory in Lugansk frees its forces to advance deeper into neighboring Donetsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian shelling killed six people, including a nine-year-old girl, in the city of Sloviansk as the battle for Donbass shifted west to Donetsk.

According to local authorities, two more people were killed and three injured during a strike over the weekend in the town of Dobropillia, southwest of Sloviansk.

Tetyana Ignachenko, a spokeswoman for the Donetsk region, urged residents to flee the area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin went to war in Ukraine over what he called a genocidal threat to Russian speakers in Donbass, where pro-Russian separatists have been at war with Kyiv since 2014.

Leaders from dozens of countries, international organizations and the private sector are gathering in the Swiss city of Lugano to discuss plans to rebuild Ukraine, even as fighting continues.

Western leaders say Ukraine needs a “Marshall Plan,” a nod to the huge economic bailout plan the United States has been crafting to rebuild Europe after World War II.

Zelensky says the work to rebuild areas liberated by Russian forces or damaged by war is “truly colossal”.

The head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, promises that the Ukrainian flag will “fly high” at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Visiting Kyiv, Bach promises to triple IOC funding for Ukrainian athletes to ensure they can compete.

Zelenskyy says 89 athletes and coaches have died in the war and 13 others are being held captive by Russian forces.

The IOC has recommended international sports federations to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes, but Russia is not currently barred from participating in the 2024 Olympics.

Russia accuses Kyiv of firing three rockets at the town of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, killing at least three people over the weekend.

“Russian air defenses shot down three Tochka-U cluster missiles fired by Ukrainian nationalists against Belgorod,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.