Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, said in a televised address that Russian troops on Saturday continued shelling all cities controlled by Ukrainian forces in the country’s eastern region and that they were intensifying their bombardment.
He added that Ukrainian forces were withdrawing from some residential areas to reorganize their ranks, but that the move was not a major setback.
Russia denies that it has targeted residential areas.
On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and destroyed three Mi-8 helicopters at a small airfield in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
So far, there has been no response from Kyiv to what Russia has said.
