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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has arrived in Kyiv. The Irish prime minister is expected to have a series of meetings designed to reiterate Ireland’s solidarity with the Ukrainian authorities. PA Media quotes him saying:

The people of Ireland stand with Ukraine and its people in the face of Russia’s immoral and unprovoked war of terror. The bombardment and attacks on civilians are nothing short of war crimes and I will use my visit to express Ireland’s support for moves to hold those behind these attacks fully accountable.

The spirit and resolve of the Ukrainian people has inspired us all and Ireland will provide every support for Ukraine’s path to full EU membership, and continue to welcome and support civilians fleeing this war.

Russian forces hit targets across Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province; governor urges 350,000 civilians to evacuate

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At least two people have been killed and seven injured after “massive shelling” pummelled the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, officials say. City mayor, Vadim Lyakh, called on residents to evacuate after Russian forces struck a market and a residential area.

The governor of the Donetsk region has also urged 350,000 civilians to evacuate in light of an imminent Russian offensive. Pavlo Kyrylenko said that getting people out is necessary to save lives and to enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns from the Russian advance.

Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk said on Wednesday that fighting continues in the villages around Lysychansk. Serhai Haidai said “some settlements have already been under one or another control twice”. He repeated that up to 15,000 civilians remain in Lysychansk and 8,000 in Sievierodonetsk, adding “today’s videos from Lysychansk are painful to watch”.

The battle for Sloviansk is likely to be the next key contest in the struggle for Donbas as Russian forces approach within 16km of the Donetsk town, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday. Russian forces from the eastern and western groups of forces are likely now around 16km north of Sloviansk as central and southern groups of forces also pose a threat to the town, according to the latest British intelligence report.

The premises of a higher educational institution in the Kyiv region of Kharkiv have been destroyed by Russian fire, according to the governor of the region, Oleh Synyehubov

The first rotation of Ukrainian soldiers has arrived in the UK for training, according to the defence secretary, Ben Wallace. The training is part of a programme that aims to train up to 10,000 new Ukrainian recruits alongside a £2.3bn military aid package.

Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin is in Ukraine today, and has visited the Borodyanka area on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv. The Irish prime minister said: “The people of Ireland stand with Ukraine and its people in the face of Russia’s immoral and unprovoked war of terror. The bombardment and attacks on civilians are nothing short of war crimes.”

Pavlo Kyrylenko says ‘destiny of the whole country’ will be decided in Donetsk region

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The governor of Donetsk, the last remaining eastern province of Ukraine partially under Kyiv’s control, has urged the region’s 350,000 people to flee amid reports of fresh deaths and injuries.

At least seven civilians have been killed in Russian shelling over the past 24 hours and 25 are said to have been wounded as the Kremlin continues to step up its offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Sloviansk mayor tells residents to evacuate amid expected increase in Russian bombing

• Sloviansk mayor urges residents to flee

Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, Serhai Haidai, has posted an update to Telegram casting aspersions on the ability of pro-Russian proxies to restore stability in the newly occupied areas of Ukraine. He writes:

In the recently occupied territories, the Russians establish their own rules, talk nonsense about the opening of schools from 1 September, the rapid restoration of communications. This is all a lie, the same thing happened in Mariupol. The only thing the Rashists [a term for Russian fascists] are capable of is terrorising the local population. Orcs [derogatory slang for Russians/pro-Russian forces] are already looking for activists and military families, collaborators are helping with this.

Over these few months, more than 800 saboteurs were detained and handed over to the SBU [Ukrainian security service] for further procedural actions. And often, they are “sold for thirty pieces of silver”: the price for treason to the motherland reaches no more than 300 dollars.

Region’s governor says loss was painful and he expects Sloviansk and Bakhmut now to face heavy attack

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Vladimir Putin has declared victory in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk and told Russian troops to rest and “increase their combat capabilities”, a day after Ukrainian forces withdrew from their last remaining stronghold in the province.

Ukraine’s military command confirmed on Sunday evening that its troops had been forced to pull back from the city of Lysychansk in Luhansk, and the regional governor has warned that Russian forces are trying to seize the entire Donetsk region, which, with Luhansk, makes up the industrial heartland of Donbas.

Russia claims to have taken full control of Lysychansk; blasts in Russian city near Ukrainian border

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Russia claims it has taken full control of Lysychansk, the eastern Ukraine city that had become Ukraine’s last major stronghold in the Luhansk region. The defence ministry reportedly made the announcement on Sunday, after initially stating the area had been encircled.

Ukraine’s defence ministry has denied the claims, saying that the city was not under “full control” of Russia. But spokesman Yuriy Sak added that if the entire Donbas region were to fall, it would not be “game over” for Ukraine.

It comes after an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the loss of Ukraine’s last large bastion in Luhansk was “indeed a threat”. Oleksiy Arestovych added: “I do not rule out any one of a number of outcomes here. Things will become much more clear within a day or two.”

Former British army chief Lord Dannatt said “meaningful negotiations” could arise out of Russia potentially taking full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. His comments came before the Russian defence ministry reportedly claimed to have taken full control of Lysychansk, the last major Ukrainian stronghold in the region.

At least three people were killed and dozens of residential buildings damaged in the Russian city of Belgorod on Sunday, the region’s governor said, after reports of several blasts in the city near the Ukrainian border. Vyacheslav Gladkov said at least 11 apartment buildings and 39 residential houses were damaged, including five houses destroyed. Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports and there was no immediate reaction from Ukraine. Gladkov said earlier on the Telegram messaging app: “Reasons for the incident are being investigated. Presumably, the air defence system worked.”

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has claimed Ukraine attempted to strike military facilities on Belarusian territory. Reuters, citing the state-run Belta news agency, reported that Lukashenko said – without providing evidence – that Ukrainian armed forces tried to strike facilities in Belarus three days ago but the missiles were intercepted. He claimed Ukraine was attempting to provoke Belarus but his country did not plan to intervene in the conflict.

Rescue workers have recovered as many as 29 body fragments amid the rubble of deadly Russian missile strikes on a shopping centre in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, Ukraine’s state emergency service said. At least 19 people were killed on Monday after two Russian X-22 cruise missiles hit a crowded shopping centre in Kremenchuk, officials said.

The British government has condemned the exploitation of prisoners of war as two more British men held by Russian proxies in east Ukraine and charged with “mercenary activities” could face the death penalty. Andrew Hill of Plymouth and Dylan Healy of Huntingdon were reported to have been charged with “forcible seizure of power” and undergoing “terrorist” training, according to a state news agency in Russian-controlled Donetsk.

A series of recent assassination attempts targeting pro-Russian officials suggests a growing resistance movement against Russian-backed authorities occupying parts of southern Ukraine, according to US officials. The resistance could grow into a wider counterinsurgency that would pose a significant challenge to Russia’s ability to control captured Ukrainian territories, CNN cited officials as saying.

Demonstrators took to the streets in Berlin to demand that the German government not intervene in the war in Ukraine. Germany has offered support to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, sending billions in military aid and heavy weapons.

Spokesperson claims they have ‘completely’ encircled last stronghold in Luhansk region

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Russian-backed forces stepped up their assault on the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk on Saturday, as they claimed to have “completely” encircled the last stronghold in the Luhansk region.

If Lysychansk falls, the entire region of Luhansk – which along with Donetsk makes up the eastern Donbas region – could come under Russian control, marking another strategic breakthrough for Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine nuclear plant surveillance systems restored; at least 14 Russian arms companies ‘have not been sanctioned’; warning on war’s environmental cost

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