Ukrainian soldiers have left strategic frontline city

• Russia launches widespread shelling and airstrikes
• ‘The Russians could come any time’: fear on EU border
• What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week?

Russian missiles have hit military infrastructure in northern Ukraine, local officials have said.

Reuters reports that Vitaliy Bunechko, governor of the Zhytomyr region in the north of the country, said strikes on a military target killed at least one soldier.

German gas prices could triple as Russia cuts supply; Ukrainian forces prepare Severodonetsk retreat; thousands of Black Sea dolphins killed

• See all our Ukraine coverage

Neighbouring city of Lysychansk could fall within days as Russia continues slow advance in Donbas

• Russia-Ukraine war: live updates

The last Ukrainian forces fighting in the heavily contested eastern city of Sievierodonetsk have been ordered to withdraw in order to avoid being encircled, as fears grow that the neighbouring city of Lysychansk could also fall to Russia within days.

The anticipated loss of Sievierodonetsk is the latest battlefield reverse for Kyiv after its defeat in the port city of Mariupol. According to some estimates, about 12,000 civilians remain in Sievierodonetsk, out of a prewar population of 160,000.

Before war fatigue sets in further, a rethink needed to avoid a years-long conflict

Speaking at a private dinner in London recently, a senior serving British military officer argued the west had no choice but to see Ukraine as just one phase in a decade-long battle with Russia. “If Ukraine wins, Russia will never accept that. If Russia wins, it will go further,” he warned.

Yet in Whitehall they fear the “F word” – fatigue – and worry that the west with its TikTok-attention span and bias towards instant gratification does not have the resolve for the years-long sacrifice required to defeat Russia, or even stem the military tide in the villages of eastern Ukraine.