TOP HEADLINES

• Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed President Vladimir Putin that all of Ukraine's Luhansk region had been "liberated" by Russian and separatist forces, the defense ministry said.

• Ukrainian separatists backed by Russia earlier said they had "completely" encircled the key city of Lysychansk in the eastern Luhansk region. "Today the Luhansk popular militia and Russian forces occupied the last strategic heights, which allows us to confirm that Lysychansk is completely encircled," Andrei Marotchko, a spokesman for the separatist forces, told the Russian TASS news agency.

• The Ukrainian army rejected the claims that Lysychansk has been surrounded, but says heavy fighting was ongoing on its edges."Fighting rages around Lysychansk. (But) luckily the city has not been encircled and is under control of the Ukrainian army," Ruslan Muzytchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Guard, said on Ukrainian television. 

• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his army had shot down missiles fired into their territory from Ukraine and vowed to respond "instantly" to any enemy strike. "We are being provoked," Lukashenko was quoted as saying by state news agency Belta. "I must tell you that around three days ago, maybe more, they tried to strike military targets in Belarus from Ukraine. 

• Ukrainian forces hit a Russian base with over 30 strikes in the Russian-occupied southern city of Melitopol, the city's exiled Ukrainian mayor said. A Russian official confirmed strikes had hit the city.

• At least three people were killed and four injured in a series of "strong explosions" that rocked the Russian city Belgorod, according to the governor of the region, which borders Ukraine. "We are currently trying to establish the circumstances of the incident. The anti-aircraft defenses were in operation," Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

• A US-backed campaign is giving Russians access to anti-censor software to dodge Moscow's crackdown on dissent against its military offensive in Ukraine, involved groups told AFP news agency. Russia has intensified its restrictions on independent media since attacking its neighbor in February, with journalists under threat of prosecution for criticizing the invasion or for even referring to it as a war.

• A sizeable number of companies, executives and investors underpinning Russia's defense sector have yet to be affected by Western sanctions, a Reuters news agency examination showed. 

• The United States is sending Ukraine two NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, four additional counter-artillery radars and up to 150,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition as part of its latest weapons packages for Ukraine.

IN DETAIL

'Fighting rages around Lysychansk but the city has not been encircled'

The Ukrainian army rejected claims that Moscow-backed separatists and Russian forces had surrounded the key eastern city of Lysychansk, but said heavy fighting was ongoing on its edges.

"Fighting rages around Lysychansk. (But) luckily the city has not been encircled and is under control of the Ukrainian army," Russlan Muzytchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Guard, said on Ukrainian television, after a separatist spokesman made the allegations earlier in the day.

Capturing the city would allow the Russians to push deeper into the wider eastern region of the Donbas, which has become the focus of their offensive since failing to capture Kyiv after launching their military operation in Ukraine in late February.

Across the Donets river from Lysychansk, the Russians seized the neighboring city Sievierodonetsk  last week.

Andrei Marotchko, a spokesman for the separatist forces, earlier told the TASS news agency, "Today the Luhansk popular militia and Russian forces occupied the last strategic heights, which allows us to confirm that Lysychansk is completely encircled."