Leonid Pasechnik

Ukrainian and Russian forces were fighting for "literally every metre" in Severodonetsk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as fighting intensified in an eastern region where the country's top commander said the land "is covered in blood".

Severodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk have been targeted for weeks as the last areas in the Lugansk region still under Ukrainian control.

Leaders of Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine announced a general military mobilization today after yesterday ordering women and children to be evacuated to southern Russia over the threat of conflict, Reuters reported.

Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilization on Feb. 19 amid a spike of violence in the war-torn region and fears in the West that Russia might use the strife as a pretext for an invasion.