乌克兰基辅-俄罗斯军队试图吞并东部卢甘斯克地区最后一个剩余的乌克兰据点，在周六完全控制了Sievierodonetsk烧焦的废墟和数百名乌克兰军队和平民藏身的化工厂后，加强了他们的势头。
俄罗斯还向远离东部战场的几个地区发射了数十枚导弹。乌克兰空军司令部表示，一些导弹首次从白俄罗斯部署的俄罗斯远程图-22轰炸机上发射。
轰炸发生在俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京和白俄罗斯总统亚历山大·卢卡申科会晤之前，普京在会晤中宣布，俄罗斯计划向白俄罗斯提供伊斯坎德尔-M导弹系统。
俄罗斯国防部发言人伊戈尔·科纳申科夫星期六晚些时候说，俄罗斯和莫斯科支持的分离主义势力现在控制了Sievierodonetsk及其周围的村庄。他说，乌克兰军队试图将阿索特工厂变成一个“顽固的抵抗中心”的企图已经被挫败。
卢甘斯克省省长谢尔盖·海岱(Serhiy Haidai)周五表示，经过数周的轰炸和挨家挨户的战斗，乌克兰军队正在从Sievierodonetsk撤退。他周六证实，该市已落入俄罗斯和分离主义武装分子手中，他说，这些武装分子正试图从南部封锁Lysychansk。这座城市位于Sievierodonetsk以西的河对岸。
占领Lysychansk将使俄罗斯军队控制该省的每一个主要定居点，这是朝着俄罗斯占领整个顿巴斯的目标迈出的重要一步。俄罗斯人和分裂分子控制了顿巴斯第二大省顿涅茨克的大约一半。
俄罗斯国际文传电讯社(Interfax news agency)援引分离势力发言人安德烈·马罗奇科(Andrei Marochko)的话说，俄罗斯军队和分离主义战士已经进入利西申斯克，战斗正在该市中心进行。乌克兰方面没有立即对此发表评论。
Lysychansk和Sievierodonetsk一直是俄罗斯进攻的焦点，旨在占领整个顿巴斯，并摧毁保卫它的乌克兰军队——该国武装力量中最有能力和最久经沙场的部分。
俄罗斯的轰炸将Sievierodonetsk的大部分地区夷为废墟，人口从10万减少到1万。最后剩下的乌克兰军队和数百名平民一起躲在巨大的Azot化工厂的地下掩体中。据国际文传电讯社(Interfax)报道，分裂分子代表伊万·菲利波年科(Ivan Filiponenko)周六早些时候表示，他们的部队在夜间从工厂疏散了800名平民。
乌克兰军事分析家奥列格·日丹诺夫(Oleg Zhdanov)表示，部分部队正前往利西申斯克。但是俄罗斯切断Lysychansk的行动不会给那些撤退的军队一点喘息的机会。
利沃夫州州长Maksym Kozytskyy说，在西方约1000公里(600英里)处，从黑海发射的四枚俄罗斯巡航导弹击中了雅洛夫州的一个“军事目标”。他没有给出目标的进一步细节，但亚罗维夫有一个相当大的军事基地，用于训练战士，包括自愿为乌克兰战斗的外国人。
今年3月，俄罗斯导弹袭击了Yaroviv基地，造成35人死亡。利沃夫地区虽然远离前线，但由于俄罗斯军队努力摧毁燃料库，该地区在战争中的不同地点都受到了攻击。
乌克兰中部日托米尔州州长维塔利·布琴科(Vitaliy Buchenko)表示，周六上午，约30枚俄罗斯导弹发射到该州，造成一名乌克兰士兵死亡。他说所有的袭击都是针对军事目标的。
罗夫诺州州长Vitaliy Koval说，在西北部，两枚导弹击中了Sarny的一个服务站和汽车维修中心，造成3人死亡，4人受伤。他贴了一张破坏的照片。萨尔尼位于白俄罗斯边境以南约50公里(30英里)处。
乌克兰军方称，在黑海沿岸的乌克兰南部，从克里米亚发射的九枚导弹击中了港口城市Mykolaiv。
乌克兰军方表示，在北部，大约20枚导弹从白俄罗斯发射到了切尔尼戈夫地区。
乌克兰军事情报机构表示，俄罗斯轰炸机在周六的袭击中首次使用白俄罗斯领空，“与克里姆林宫试图将白俄罗斯拖入战争直接相关”
白俄罗斯驻有俄罗斯军队，在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰之前曾被用作集结地，但其军队尚未越过边境。
乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基(Volodymyr Zelenskyy)在他的夜间视频讲话中表示，随着莫斯科预计将持续五天的战争进入第五个月，俄罗斯“感到被迫上演这样一场导弹秀”。
他说，这场战争处于一个困难的阶段，“当我们知道敌人不会成功，当我们明白我们可以保卫我们的国家，但我们不知道需要多长时间，还会有多少次袭击，损失和努力，才能看到胜利已经在我们的地平线上。”
普京在圣彼得堡会见卢卡申科时告诉他，伊斯坎德尔-M导弹系统将在未来几个月内抵达。他指出，他们可以发射弹道导弹或巡航导弹，并携带核弹头和常规弹头。战争期间，俄罗斯向乌克兰发射了数枚伊斯坎德尔导弹。
在2月24日开始的入侵的早期阶段，俄罗斯军队试图夺取乌克兰首都基辅，但失败了。此后，俄罗斯军队将注意力转移到了顿巴斯，自2014年以来，乌克兰军队一直在那里与莫斯科支持的分裂分子作战。
一名不愿透露姓名的美国高级国防官员周五在华盛顿表示，乌克兰人从Sievierodonetsk的撤军是一种“战术倒退”，目的是将部队整合到能够更好地保护自己的位置。该官员称，此举将加强乌克兰将俄罗斯军队限制在小范围内的努力。
在乌克兰一再向其西方盟友请求重型武器以对抗俄罗斯的火力优势后，四架美国中程火箭发射器本周抵达，另有四架正在途中。
乌克兰国防部周六发布了一段视频，展示了高机动性火炮火箭系统(HIMARS)在乌克兰的首次使用。视频没有给出目标的位置或指示。火箭可以飞行大约45英里(70公里)。
这位美国高级国防官员周五表示，更多的乌克兰部队正在乌克兰境外接受使用HIMARS的训练，预计将于7月中旬带着武器返回乌克兰。还将派出18艘美国海岸和河流巡逻艇。
这名官员说，没有证据表明俄罗斯截获了任何从美国和其他国家源源不断流入乌克兰的武器。俄罗斯一再威胁要打击，或者实际上声称已经打击了这种运输。
Russia fires missiles across Ukraine, cements gains in east
KYIV, Ukraine --Russian forces were seeking to swallow up the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Luhansk region, pressing their momentum after taking full control Saturday of the charred ruins of Sievierodonetsk and the chemical plant where hundreds of Ukrainian troops and civilians had been holed up.
Russia also launched dozens of missiles on several areas across the country far from the heart of the eastern battles. Some of the missiles were fired from Russian long-range Tu-22 bombers deployed from Belarus for the first time, Ukraine's air command said.
The bombardment preceded a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, during which Putin announced that Russia planned to supply Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said late Saturday that Russian and Moscow-backed separatist forces now control Sievierodonetsk and the villages surrounding it. He said the attempt by Ukrainian forces to turn the Azot plant into a “stubborn center of resistance” had been thwarted.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk province, said Friday that Ukrainian troops were retreating from Sievierodonetsk after weeks of bombardment and house-to-house fighting. He confirmed Saturday that the city had fallen to Russian and separatist fighters, who he said were now trying to blockade Lysychansk from the south. The city lies across the river just to the west of Sievierodonetsk.
Capturing Lysychansk would give Russian forces control of every major settlement in the province, a significant step toward Russia’s aim of capturing the entire Donbas. The Russians and separatists control about half of Donetsk, the second province in the Donbas.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a spokesman for the separatist forces, Andrei Marochko, as saying Russian troops and separatist fighters had entered Lysychansk and that fighting was taking place in the heart of the city. There was no immediate comment on the claim from the Ukrainian side.
Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk have been the focal point of a Russian offensive aimed at capturing all of the Donbas and destroying the Ukrainian military defending it — the most capable and battle-hardened segment of the country’s armed forces.
Russian bombardment has reduced most of Sievierodonetsk to rubble and cut its population from 100,000 to 10,000. The last remaining Ukrainian troops were holed up in underground shelters in the huge Azot chemical plant, along with hundreds of civilians. A separatist representative, Ivan Filiponenko, said earlier Saturday that its forces evacuated 800 civilians from the plant during the night, Interfax reported.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleg Zhdanov said some of the troops were heading for Lysychansk. But Russian moves to cut off Lysychansk will give those retreating troops little respite.
Some 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to the west, four Russian cruise missiles fired from the Black Sea hit a “military object” in Yaroviv, Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy said. He did not give further details of the target, but Yaroviv has a sizable military base used for training fighters, including foreigners who have volunteered to fight for Ukraine.
Russian missiles struck the Yaroviv base in March, killing 35 people. The Lviv region, although far from the front lines, has come under fire at various points in the the war as Russia's military worked to destroy fuel storage sites.
About 30 Russian missiles were fired on the Zhytomyr region in central Ukraine on Saturday morning, killing one Ukrainian soldier, regional governor Vitaliy Buchenko said. He said all of the strikes were aimed at military targets.
In the northwest, two missiles hit a service station and auto repair center in Sarny, killing three people and wounding four, the Rivne regional governor, Vitaliy Koval, said. He posted a picture of the destruction. Sarny is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the border with Belarus.
In southern Ukraine along the Black Sea coast, nine missiles fired from Crimea hit the port city of Mykolaiv, the Ukrainian military said.
In the north, about 20 missiles were fired from Belarus into the Chernihiv region, the Ukrainian military said.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency said the Russian bombers' use of Belarusian airspace for the first time for Saturday's attack was “directly connected to attempts by the Kremlin to drag Belarus into the war.”
Belarus hosts Russian military units and was used as a staging ground before Russia invaded Ukraine, but its own troops have not crossed the border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that as a war that Moscow expected to last five days moved into its fifth month, Russia “felt compelled to stage such a missile show."
He said the war was at a difficult stage, “when we know that the enemy will not succeed, when we understand that we can defend our country, but we don’t know how long it will take, how many more attacks, losses and efforts there will be before we can see that victory is already on our horizon.”
During his meeting in St. Petersburg with Lukashenko, Putin told him the Iskander-M missile systems would be arriving in the coming months. He noted that they can fire either ballistic or cruise missiles and carry nuclear as well as conventional warheads. Russia has launched several Iskander missiles into Ukraine during the war.
Following a botched attempt to capture Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in the early stage of the invasion that started Feb. 24, Russian forces have shifted their focus to the Donbas, where the Ukrainian forces have fought Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.
A senior U.S. defense official, speaking in Washington on condition of anonymity, on Friday called the Ukrainians’ withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk a “tactical retrograde” to consolidate forces into positions where they can better defend themselves. The move will reinforce Ukraine’s efforts to keep Russian forces pinned down in a small area, the official said.
After repeated Ukrainian requests to its Western allies for heavier weaponry to counter Russia’s edge in firepower, four medium-range American rocket launchers arrived this week, with four more on the way.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry released a video Saturday showing the first use of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, in Ukraine. The video gave no location or indication of the targets. The rockets can travel about 45 miles (70 kilometers).
The senior U.S. defense official said Friday that more Ukrainian forces are training outside Ukraine to use the HIMARS and are expected back in their country with the weapons by mid-July. Also to be sent are 18 U.S. coastal and river patrol boats.
The official said there is no evidence Russia has intercepted any of the steady flow of weapons into Ukraine from the U.S. and other nations. Russia has repeatedly threatened to strike, or actually claimed to have hit, such shipments.
