Sievierodonetsk

This prompted Ukrainian officials to announce the possibility of withdrawing Ukrainian defenders from Luhansk so that they would not be trapped in a hostile environment.
Lugansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said today that Russian forces had entered Sievierodonetsk - a city of about 100.000 inhabitants that is of great strategic importance to Ukrainian defenders east of it.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Russian forces continue the offensive against Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in the Luhansk region

Ukraine has pledged to do "everything" to defend Donbas, where an intensifying Russian offensive is prompting Kiev's forces to consider a strategic retreat from some key areas to avoid being surrounded.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Ukraine dissatisfied with the West's help

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of carrying out a "genocide" in the eastern region of Donbas, where the city of Severodonetsk is suffering an onslaught of Russian shelling.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a bitter rebuke to the West for not doing enough to help Kiev win the war, as fierce battles rage in the country's east and Russian troops draw ever closer to encircling a key industrial city.

Hungary has imposed a state of emergency, and Viktor Orbn states that Budapest will stay away from the war.
Ursula von der Leyen called for talks with Moscow to enable the delivery of wheat, which was captured in Ukraine because Russia blocked the ports.

Russian troops are advancing in eastern Ukraine, pounding key cities and aiming "to destroy everything there", President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, as Moscow signaled it was digging in for a long war against its neighbor.

President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, says that a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is possible only if the topic is ending the war.
Europe says its stockpiles have been depleted after deliveries to Kyiv.

Neither Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels have started pulling arms out of the areas of conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

Kiev says the army would not pull back until the siege around Debaltseve ends, whereas the rebels insist the army should leave the beleaguered city which in their opinion is not part of the Minsk agreement.