The bombing has intensified in the city of Severodonetsk, one of the few parts of the Luhansk region in the Donbas that is still under the control of the Ukrainian government.
Russian forces are attacking from three sides in an effort to encircle the city and neighboring Lysychansk, knowing that if they fall, almost all of Luhansk will be under Russian control.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, said about 50 Russian soldiers had reached a major road, managing to “get a foothold” and establish a checkpoint.
“The checkpoint was broken, they were pulled back … the Russian army is not in control of the route now, but they are bombing it.”
He said Ukrainian fighters could leave “one settlement, maybe two”, but added: “We have to win the war, not the battle.”
“Clearly our boys are slowly retreating to more fortified positions; we need to contain this horde.”
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, but has backed separatists in the southern Donbas region since 2014.
After abandoning his attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in early May, he moved to concentrate on Donbas, which includes Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.
Read more: Severodonetsk: Fear, suspicion and divided loyalties in the city where the situation is getting out of control
During his nightly speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “Ukraine will always be an independent state and will not break.
“The only question is what price our people will have to pay for their freedom and what price Russia will pay for this senseless war against us.”
Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed, including a five-month-old boy, and 17 were injured in a bombing in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Thursday.
Image: Day 92 of the war in Ukraine
In other developments: • Ukrainian forces withdrew from Svitlodarsk and Russian fighters have occupied the local government building and hung a Soviet flag on the door • The Ukrainian army says 50 cities in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces were bombed on Thursday • The US is considering giving Kyiv a system of rockets with a range of hundreds of miles, after talking with Ukrainian officials about the danger of climbing if they attack inside Russia • Two Russian soldiers, Alexander Alexeevich Ivanov and Alexander Vladimirovich Bobykin, have pleaded guilty in a Ukrainian court to bombing civilian infrastructure with a rocket launcher. They could face up to 12 years in prison • Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin became the last European leader to go to Ukraine on Thursday, visiting the cities of Bucha and Irpin and meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy also told the West to stop playing with Russia and impose tougher sanctions, showing some frustration over the pace of the European Union’s move towards a possible ban on Russian oil.
He said: “Catastrophic events could still be stopped if the world treated the situation in Ukraine as if it were facing the same situation, if the powers were not playing with Russia but really pushing to end the war.”
Russia receives 1 billion euros a day from EU nations for energy supply, he added, wondering why some are allowed to block the ban.
Any ban would require the agreement of each of the 27 EU countries, but Hungary is against the idea, fearing the consequences for its economy.
“The pressure on Russia is literally a matter of saving lives,” Zelenskyy said.
“Every day of procrastination, weakness, various disputes or proposals to” pacify “the aggressor at the expense of the victim only means that more Ukrainians are killed.”