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Military advances come as EU leaders press on in push for deal on oil embargo
Russian troops have entered the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk after "very fierce "fighting
a Ukrainian official said on Monday as the special military operation approaches the 100-day mark
Shelling killed two civilians and wounded five others as Russian troops advanced into the city's southeastern and northeastern fringes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "Some 90 percent of buildings are damaged
More than two-thirds of the city's housing stock has been completely destroyed
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday said the "liberation" of the Donbas
an industrial region which includes Lugansk and Donetsk
was an "unconditional priority" for Moscow
Ukrainian forces in the Donbas said they were on the defensive all day on Sunday
as Russian forces fired on 46 communities in Donetsk and Lugansk
Russian shelling also continued on Sunday across several regions such as in Novy Buh in Mykolaiv and Sumy
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the Russian Aerospace Forces delivered a strike by precision missiles to wipe out a large arms arsenal of the Ukrainian army on industrial premises in Krivoi Rog
Zelensky made his first trip to the battle-scarred east since the conflict began on Feb 24
Zelensky's office posted a video on the Telegram platform of the president wearing a bulletproof vest while viewing destroyed buildings in Kharkiv and its surroundings
conceding that one-third of the Kharkiv region remained under Russian control
said: "We will for sure liberate the entire area
We are doing everything we can to contain this offensive."
Zelensky announced that he had fired the northeastern city's security chief in a rare public rebuke
Zelensky said the man was dismissed "for not working to defend the city" from the first days of the conflict
and that while others had toiled "very effectively"
Although the president did not name the official
Ukrainian media reports identified him as Roman Dudin
the head of the Kharkiv region's SBU security service
Ukraine's battlefield setbacks came as European Union leaders were scheduled to meet on Monday and Tuesday to discuss a new sanctions package against Russia
the Committee of the Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the European Union failed to reach a compromise on a lighter version of an oil embargo
According to a source in the EU institutions in Brussels
the new round of European sanctions has been held up by Hungary
as the landlocked country is heavily dependent on Russian crude oil supplied via the Druzhba pipeline
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck expressed fears that EU unity was "starting to crumble" and a draft statement of the meeting
indicated there will be little in terms of new decisions
But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said "there will be an agreement in the end"
with a deal on the next sanctions package by Monday afternoon
During an interview with France's TF1 television channel on Sunday
Lavrov said the West planned its anti-Russian sanctions long ago and is unlikely to lift them
that when the whole thing is over the sanctions will stay in place," Lavrov said