The mayor of Sloviansk, a city in Donetsk that has found itself on the front line as Russian forces advance, has urged civilians to evacuate as quickly as they can as Russian forces approach the city.
Russia has turned its attention to capturing more parts of the Donetsk region of the Donbas, having already seized the neighboring Luhansk province. Donetsk is now experiencing heavy shelling, the same strategy that Russian forces used in Luhansk. Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Bakhmut are now Russia's key targets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated troops for "liberating" Ukraine's eastern Luhansk province after several weeks of brutal fighting. A huge proportion of the area's infrastructure, including residential buildings, has been destroyed, and numerous civilians have been killed, though the full death toll is not yet known.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last night that his forces have "no alternative" but to continue fighting as losses and destruction mount in the country.